


The Battle Outside is Blazing

by marvelousbones



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alex Danvers & Lena Luthor Friendship, Alternate Universe - Firefighters, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort/Angst, Endgame Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Endgame Nia Nal/Querl Dox, Established Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen, F/F, F/M, Fire, Firefighter Kara Danvers, Firefighters, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Panic, Hurt/Comfort, Kara Danvers and Lena Luthor in Love, Lena Luthor Needs a Hug, Light Angst, Protective Alex Danvers, Protective Kara Danvers, Thirsty Kara Danvers, Thirsty Lena Luthor, paramedic lena luthor, paramedics, potsticker the dog
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 05:48:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 22,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28898427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marvelousbones/pseuds/marvelousbones
Summary: Kara Danvers is the Lieutenant of Station 17 and she's had a crush on Lena Luthor ever since the green-eyed paramedic first walked into their station three-and-a-half years ago. Unfortunately, Kara can't act on it because she outranks Lena, and it is against company policy. What will they do when Kara finds out that her steadily growing crush might not be so one-sided after all?
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Querl Dox/Nia Nal
Comments: 178
Kudos: 297





	1. So Many Emotions

**Author's Note:**

> This piece started as a flash fiction story for my intermediate fiction writing class, so it's very short. I have been thinking about a Supercorp Firefighter AU for a while, so I figured this was as good of a time as any to write it. I am working on expanding this further, so I hope y'all stick around for further chapters! 
> 
> The title of this new series is taken from Aly & AJ's song [ Slow Dancing](https://youtu.be/poaP-o8klRM). (I know my last fic was based on this song, but we don't talk about that lol. I may or may not have a problem.)
> 
> I have decided to make all the titles lyrics from Aly & AJ songs, so this chapter's title is from their song [ Not Ready to Wake Up ](https://youtu.be/HIkfZlP-qNo).

The dark cloud hovered in front of Kara and blurred her vision making it difficult to see more than a few feet in front of her. The only thing that she could hear was the sound of her own heavy breathing through the mask on her face. Four minutes ago, she was forced to abandon her much-anticipated mac and cheese as the klaxons blared “Station 17, response. Structural fire. Full response needed.”

Suddenly, her radio clicked to life and her sister's authoritative Captain voice pierced through the sound of the creaking structure, "Lieutenant, what does it look like in there?"

"I’d say we only have 30% visibility,” Kara responded, squinting into the darkness, hand along the wall as she felt her way across. “It looks like most residents have evacuated but we’re finishing up our final sweep now,” she added as Kara continued down the dark hallway. She crouched low as the smoke grew thicker, the heavy footsteps of her fellow firefighters echoing behind her. The red and blue hue from the engine's sirens flashing outside cast an eerie atmosphere as the smoke continued to rise.

"Copy. The fire’s only 20% contained and I don't like the way this smoke is looking. Finish up in there as fast as you can then get your asses back out here so we can hit this thing with all we've got, over," Captain Danvers's voice resonated through their radios.

The building creaked ominously as she yelled, “copy!” into her radio while debris continued to fall sporadically from the ceiling.

All of a sudden, the whole building shook beneath her feet and she felt something large smack into her back sending her tumbling to the ground. The breath left her lungs with a quick 'woosh' as the object--probably a structure beam--pressed into her back, pinning her to the ground. 

Kara tried to pry her eyes open but the whole room was spinning as she instantly slammed them shut again. Everything hurt as she felt herself drifting in and out of consciousness. The blaring sound of her PASS device pierced through the air, the ringing in her ears amplifying the sound and making her whole skull vibrate. Her vision swam as she could no longer fight the pull of unconsciousness threatening to pull her under.

She reckoned that the last thing on her mind should be memories of Alex, Lena, Kelly, Nia, Brainy, and the rest of her station—her friends, no, her **family** —and yet, as her eyes slipped closed, finally succumbing to the darkness, there was only one thing on her mind:

That forgotten bowl of mac and cheese.


	2. For All the Places Where it Hurts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena and Kelly evacuated the building, but they haven't heard from Lieutenant Danvers and her small team since the last time she checked in with their Captain. Naturally, they're all worried until they heard the shrill sound of Kara's PASS device over their radios and Nia Nal yelling "mayday, firefighter down!" over their radios. 
> 
> Station 17s paramedics rush to stabilize Kara so they can transport her to the hospital. Meanwhile, Kara struggles internally with her feelings and wonders if she'll ever get her damn mac and cheese.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The action picks up right from the last chapter! I appreciate all the interest generated from the very short chapter one. This one should be longer, and I hope you all enjoy it. 
> 
> This chapter’s title is taken from Aly & AJ's song [ Church](https://youtu.be/ZniK0Im0JpE). (I am obsessed leave me alone haha).

Kara groaned as the shouting in her ears became louder and louder with each second. The sounds around her increased in volume as she slowly started to regain consciousness.

“Mac and cheese,” Kara mumbled, but her tongue felt heavy in her mouth, so the sentence came out incoherent and garbled. Her entire body ached as she felt like a building fell on her. She laughed internally when she realized that her comparison was literal.

“You’re going to be fine!” a familiar voice yelled from Kara’s right as she heard the rapid beeping of a machine and blinked slowly to see blurred figures bustling around her.

“What’s wrong with her?” another voice—Alex—questioned from the left of Kara’s gurney.

“Captain, will all due respect, but please let us do our job so you can do yours,” the first voice responded.

“Just fix my sister,” Alex responded gruffly before she walked away to assess how the rest of her team was doing. Thankfully—while Kara was unconscious—the rest of Station 17 had finished evacuating everyone and now all they had to do was extinguish the flames.

“Kara?” the voice asked as a bright light was shone in her eyes, “can you hear me?”

“L-Lena?” Kara slurred, as she squinted at the light, her vision blurry and unfocused. She felt something wet and warm sliding down the side of her face, blood, Kara concluded.

“Dilated and unequal pupils, probable concussion” Lena reported as she moved to dig through her jump bag for more supplies.

“Can you tell me what year it is?” a new voice asked from the left as Kara let her head loll to the side to look toward the source of the sound.

Kelly—Alex’s wife and Lena’s partner—stood, as she grabbed some fresh gauze and pressed it to the heavily bleeding cut on Kara’s forehead.

“I-” Kara began before she felt a sudden chill descend her body like a blanket. She unconsciously shivered and before she could warn Lena that she wasn’t feeling well, Kara’s eyes rolled back in her head as she lost consciousness and her body began seizing.

“Lena!” Kelly yelled as the machines beeped widely in protest at Kara’s rapidly declining condition, “BP’s dropping fast and she’s seizing.”

“Shit,” Lena mumbled, “we need to get in a line.” She pulled of Kara’s turnout gear completely as she threw the large coat to the ground to expose Kara’s arms. She felt around Kara’s elbow for the vein as Kelly handed her a needle. Lena slid it in with practiced ease even as Kara’s body jerked violently. Kelly prepped the medication vial and handed the needle to Lena. “Pushing 10 milligrams of diazepam,” Lena yelled as Kelly watched the monitor closely and the beeping became less frantic.

Kara stopped seizing as Lena and Kelly both let out a sigh of relief. “Okay, let’s get her ready for transport,” Kelly said as Lena bent down to pick up Kara’s jacket as she put it in the back of the ambulance next to her jump bag.

However, their relief was short-lived as the monitor started beeping like crazy once again just as they were about to load Kara into the ambulance.  
“Dammit her vitals are dropping again,” Kelly let out a frustrated hiss as they rushed around Kara to try to lower her vitals enough to safely take her to the hospital.

As if she could read Kelly’s mind, Lena responded, “we need to stabilize her before we can transport her to The Tower”. Lena hated how hard it was to see a fellow firefighter lying on a gurney, especially if that firefighter was Kara.

“The beam may have caused some internal bleeding when it came down on her,” Kelly theorized as Kara’s vitals continued to fall at a rapid pace.

“Nal found her and Brainy estimated that she had been under there for about eight minutes. With a beam that heavy, there’s no way of predicting what kind of crush injuries that she sustained without more equipment,” Lena grunted in frustration.

Lena and Kelly worked in sync before the beeping finally slowed to a normal pace.

“She’s stable, go!” Lena shouted as she ripped open the doors and lifted Kara’s gurney in while Kelly jumped into the driver’s seat and turned on the sirens.

“Fire’s all done here. We’ll meet you guys at The Tower,” Alex called over the whooping sirens as Lena nodded and hopped in the back with Kara and closed the doors.

The ambulance pulled away towards Tower Medical with a flash of red, white, and blue.

* * *

Lena had radioed the hospital to alert them that they had a firefighter down and to ensure that there was a medical team waiting for them when they arrived.

Kelly pulled up to The Tower with a screech as she leaped out of the driver’s side to meet Lena who was already opening the back doors to wheel Kara out. The doctors were waiting for them as Kelly and Lena unloaded their Lieutenant.

“What’ve we got?” one of the female doctors asked as they ran into Tower Medical pushing Kara’s gurney.

“Possible crush or internal injuries. BP’s 180 over 100. Pulse of 56. Respirations of ten and irregular. Her pupils are unequal and dilated, but she responded to light on the scene. She had a seizure and we pushed 10 milligrams of diazepam and it stopped,” Lena rattled off to the doctors.

The doctors asked if Kara was allergic to any medication and Lena shook her head as they wheeled her best friend away.

Finally, the adrenaline seemed to wear off all at once as Lena felt her knees collapse.

Kelly caught Lena before she could fall as she wrapped Lena up in a strong hug. Lena pressed her face into Kelly’s neck and sucked in a deep breath, willing herself not to cry here.

“Come on,” Kelly murmured as she grabbed Lena’s hand and led her to a quiet hallway. “Screaming closet, go,” Kelly insisted as she opened the closet and Lena stepped inside.

Kelly closed the door behind Lena and stood guard with her back facing the door and arms clasped in front of her. She pushed back her own feelings because Lena needed this, needed her, right now.

Kelly closed her eyes as she heard sounds of muffled sobs, anguished cries, and objects clattering to the ground coming from behind the door.

* * *

Kara tried to pry her eyes open, but her eyelids felt as heavy as steel. She heard a lot of shouting around her, but she found that couldn’t open her mouth or move any of her limbs.

The last time Kara felt this trapped was when her family home set fire. She was thirteen years old and it was a normal day in the Zorel household…until it wasn’t. The firefighters told her there was a gas leak and there was no way to predict what would have happened. Their entire house was engulfed in a matter of seconds and all Kara could do was watch. Kara’s parents had urged her to hide in the small shed that was in the furthest corner of their garage and insisted that they would meet her there. Kara with her lanky teenage limbs was pressed tightly between the junk in their tiny shed as she watched her parents burn alive from the small single window. That was the day that Kara decided that she wanted to be a firefighter. She might not have been able to save her parents, but she wanted to save as many lives as she could in their honor. She knew that she could never bring them back, but this was her way of saying thank you and honoring their sacrifice by helping others.

Loud beeping brought Kara out of her thoughts as she could hear someone talking to her, “come on Lieutenant. Your station needs you,” the doctor muttered as she tried to stop the bleeders that didn’t seem to stop.

“She’s going into v-tach,” the doctor yelled as she began to tape defibrillator pads to Kara’s chest. The Lieutenant wanted to yell that she was still alive, but her body would not obey her. She wouldn’t die on a table like this. Not without telling Alex thank you for loving her and being the best sister. Not without telling Lena that she’s been madly in love with her for years. No…

“Clear!” the doctor yelled after everyone put their hands up.

“Come on kid,” the doctor pleaded as Kara jerked the machines continued to beep loudly in warning, “shocking again at 250!”

Kara felt her body convulse again from the shock, darkness consuming her once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don’t kill me for the cliffhanger! I tried my best with the medical terminology based on my own knowledge and the shows that I watch. If anything seems incorrect, don't hesitate to let me know. 
> 
> Thanks for all of your kind comments and kudos so far. See y’all in the next chapter.


	3. Tell Me to Stay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena’s little box containing her feelings for Kara burst into flames the moment she saw Kara lying on that gurney. Lena reflects on her journey at Station 17 and questions if she will ever get the chance to tell Kara how she truly feels. Alex and Kelly also take a much-needed moment to themselves during the chaos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter’s title is taken from one of my favorite Aly & AJ's song [ Good Love](https://youtu.be/L3yoXph7fgU). (Yes I know I have an Aly & AJ problem).

Lena paced in the waiting room, Kelly watching her anxiously from the corner of her eye as they waited for the other firefighters from Station 17 to join them.

Suddenly, Captain Alex Danvers burst in through the double doors, soot covering her face and her short-cropped auburn hair tousled and sticking up in every direction, most likely from removing her helmet hastily.

“Where is she? Where is my sister?” Alex demanded as she stalked up to the reception desk to confront the unfazed nurse.

Kelly looked up when her wife burst in and immediately sprang to her feet. “She’s in surgery right now,” Kelly answered as she walked up to Alex and led her away from the front desk to the waiting room where Lena was pacing.

“What happened? Is she going to be okay? Lena said she was fine,” Alex’s panicked voice filled the waiting room as the firefighters glanced over at her. They have never seen their captain this distraught before and they were at a loss for what to do.

Lena glanced over at Alex with wide eyes upon hearing her name and looked to Kelly. Kelly gave Lena a nod to signal that she had everything handled.

Luckily, being Alex’s wife, Kelly knew exactly how to handle the situation. However, being Lena’s best friend and partner, she didn’t want to leave the other woman to panic alone.

Kelly made eye contact with Nia Nal, their probie who had just joined the fire station almost three months ago. She was Kara Danvers’s protégée, and she was very good at reading people. Nia understood what Kelly was silently trying to convey as the other woman nodded and made her way over to Lena who was still pacing across the room.

“Come here,” Kelly whispered as she grabbed Alex’s arm and led her to the same supply closet that she led Lena to. This time, she walked in with Alex and shut the door behind her.

She barely had time to lock the door before she got hit with an armful of Alex as the other woman sobbed softly into her shoulder.

“Shh, let it out babe,” Kelly soothed as one hand cupped the back of Alex’s bare neck and the other rubbed soothing circles over her back.

“She’s my little sister,” Alex choked out once her sobs died down enough for her to speak. “I’m supposed to protect her.”

“I know; she’s my sister too” Kelly replied as she rested her forehead against Alex’s, knowing that her wife needed her grounding touch right now.

“I can’t live without her,” Alex admitted as she sniffled quietly, arms wrapped tightly around her wife.

“I can’t either,” Kelly replied as her fingers soothed over the frayed baby hairs at the nape of Alex’s neck.

“I feel like a terrible sister and an even worse Captain,” Alex sighed as she rested her forehead on Kelly’s shoulder.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Kelly insisted, “there was nothing you could have done to prevent what happened to Kara. This job is unpredictable in that way. I know that’s one of the reasons you love it so much. I also know that as Captain you have to put on a brave face to the world but it’s okay to feel sometimes. You’re allowed to have emotions and that doesn’t make you any less of a Captain. Emotions are what make you human; they’re what make you strong. You’re independent and headstrong, but you’re also confident and kind in a way that most people will never know. Those are some of the reasons that I fell in love with you in the first place.”

Alex looked up into Kelly’s caring brown eyes and couldn’t help but pull her closer and press her lips to Kelly’s, “I love you so goddamn much Kelly Janelle Danvers-Olsen.”

Kelly smiled into the kiss as she felt a few tears slide down her cheeks, the day’s emotions finally catching up to her. She knew that Alex was a woman of few words and chose to show her love through actions instead. Just being able to hold Alex in her arms gave Kelly a great deal of comfort after the day’s events and she was grateful to have this moment with her wife.

“You know, I think you’d make a great psychologist,” Alex smiled after a beat of silence. She noticed the tears on her wife’s face and knew that Kelly wouldn’t want to talk about it here. To show her that she would always be there for her, Alex leaned to gently kiss Kelly’s tears away.

Kelly laughed wetly as she smiled when Alex tenderly kissed her moistened cheeks, knowing exactly what Alex was trying to convey with her actions. “Dr. Olsen does have a nice ring to it,” Kelly added as she relaxed at Alex’s comforting touch.

“Yes, yes it does,” Alex agreed as she finally allowed herself to feel some happiness amidst the chaos of the stressful day.

* * *

Lena watched as the other firefighters piled into the waiting room, anxiously awaiting any news about their Lieutenant. She watched Alex barely holding it together before Kelly led her off down the same hallway that Lena went down earlier, and she understood.

The paramedic chewed the bottom of her lip and wrung her hands nervously as she ran through a list of all the possible injuries that Kara could have. Seeing Kara lying on that gurney unresponsive sparked some emotions in Lena that she had been suppressing for many years now.

Lena had come to Station 17 three-and-a-half years ago after transferring from Station 32 back in Metropolis. Back then, Alex had been a Lieutenant and Kara was a firefighter who had just finished her probationary period about a month before Lena arrived. Station 17 welcomed her with open arms, but they had a bit of a rough start.

The Captain at the time, James Olsen, seemed to have a grudge against Lena and always tried to bench her on calls. It might have been because of her last name and the unspeakable acts her half-brother had committed in the Luthor name. Lena was used to people treating her differently and looking down on her because of the atrocities that her brother had committed.

Even Alex seemed wary of her at first, but it was Kara who treated Lena like she would any other human to walk into Station 17 and took it upon herself to be Lena’s tour guide. Kara took Lena all around National City showing her the best places to get pizza, potstickers, and drinks. Kara was the human embodiment of sunshine, but when it came down to doing the job, she was one of the best.

As the weeks went on, Lena realized that she was developing a little crush on the woman that had soon become her best friend at the station. Lena tried dropping hints to Kara but as always, the blonde was oblivious to all of them.

When Kelly Olsen arrived at their station, she quickly proved to Lena that she had the opposite views of her brother and soon became one of Lena’s closest friends and confidants. They worked flawlessly together at work and outside of it. They told each other everything, well, almost everything. Lena could not work up the courage to tell Kelly about her crush on Kara. She knew that the other woman was dating Kara’s sister, Alex, so Lena was afraid that Kara would find out and never want to speak to Lena again. So, Lena bottled up her emotions and kept them tightly sealed away in her little box.

Soon, months went by and Lena and Kara grew closer every day. Kara would invite Lena to game or movie nights with Alex and Kelly. They would go on lunch dates and have girl’s night with just the two of them. Lena was finding it harder and harder to hide her little crush that was soon spiraling out of control.

After a year went by of Lena being at Station 17, Captain Olsen transferred to Station 192 and Alex was promoted to Captain. Their station soon became notorious for being one of the best firehouses in the district and they worked hard to maintain their reputation.

Lena was doing great at hiding her feelings around Kara, or so she thought. A few days after Alex’s promotion, Kelly had cornered her while Lena was doing inventory in the ambulance. She shut the door and asked Lena if she had feelings for Kara. Lena had cracked and admitted everything to Kelly after the woman promised not to utter a word about it to her fiancé Alex.

Kara would constantly do things that made Lena fall for her more and more each day like run back into a burning building to save a little girl’s cat, playing silly pranks on their new fire equipment officer Brainy, or get whipped cream all over her nose when drinking a latte. Lena’s resolve was beginning to crack, and she had a harder time maintaining platonic boundaries like during their weekly movie night cuddles.

The day that Lena had planned on telling the blonde that she had feelings for her was probably the worst day in history that Lena had decided to get her shit together.

Kara had been talking to Lena about applying to be a Lieutenant, but according to Lena, she never seemed to seriously invest in the idea. So of course, the day that Lena planned to ask Kara to dinner was the same day Kara was promoted to Lieutenant.

After more than a year and a half of friendship, Lena was hurt to discover that Kara had kept such a life-changing secret from her. While Lena was extremely proud and ecstatic for her best friend, she felt betrayed that Kara had lied to her. Anger and bitterness took over Lena as the woman did not want to admit how much Kara’s dishonesty had hurt her and the two didn’t talk for the rest of the year.

When the new year began Lena had been the one to reach out to Kara and apologize. She apologized for how she had reacted and made sure that the blonde knew how proud of her Lena was. There had been a lot of tears and hugs, but it was the beginning of their road to recovery.

Fast forward to a year later and present-day, Lena was back in the same boat of repressing her feelings of attraction towards Kara. Now, that the two had been through hell together, they were inseparable. All of those feelings that Lena had put inside of her little box have been threatening to explode for the past few months. She knew her hopes of having a relationship with Kara were close to zero because of their rankings.

Since it was against company policy for two firefighters of different rank to date each other at the same fire station, if they were to be in a relationship Kara would have to step down as Lieutenant and Lena would never ask her to do that. That is if Kara even wanted to be with Lena in that way anyway.

That is how Lena found herself in her current situation, pacing the waiting room and waiting on news of Kara’s fate. Lena realized that staring down at Kara on that gurney as Kelly whizzed them The Tower had been the final straw. It was what made that little box inside of Lena’s head not only explode into a million pieces but ignite in a blaze so big she could no longer contain it.

Lena felt herself begin to feel her breath shorten and her heartbeat rapidly as a little voice in the back of her head unhelpfully reminded her that she was having a panic attack.

“Luthor? You okay?” Nia Nal’s voice pierced through her rapid breaths as she turned to look at Nia with wide eyes.

“Woah hey, Lena breathe,” Nia immediately grabbed Lena’s hand and guided her to sit down on the plastic waiting room chair.

Lena’s heart thumped rapidly in her chest as she felt Nia grab her hand and guide it to the left side of her chest.

“Feel my heartbeat, Lena, breathe with me,” Nia advised as she held Lena’s hand to her chest.

Lena focused on the steady ‘thump thump’ of Nia’s heart as she worked to slow her breathing to match Nia’s.  
“That’s it,” Nia soothed once Lena’s breathing returned to normal.

“Thanks,” Lena whispered as Nia gave Lena’s hand a small understanding squeeze before releasing it.

Before Nia could say anything else, Alex and Kelly walked back in hand-in-hand just as a doctor walked into the waiting room.

All the firefighters of Station 17 immediately stood up but kept their distance as Alex and Lena rushed up to the doctor to await their news.

“Updates are typically for family members only,” the doctor started and before Alex or Lena could protest, she continued, “but I know you firefighters consider each other family so I’ll let it slide.”

Alex and Lena both shut their mouths and awaited with bated breath about Kara’s condition.

“She coded on the table and we had to shock her twice, but she’s stable right now. She has a few cuts and bruises with the gash on her forehead requiring five stitches. We did surgery to fix the depressed skull fracture she sustained. She also has a concussion and two broken ribs. Her spine and the discs in her lower spinal column were compressed on impact as well so she may experience lumbar pain in the next few days. We want to keep her here for observation for the next few days to ensure that she recovers properly. With a little bit of rest and medical care, she should be back to work in no time” the doctor finished as she let the two women before her take it all in.

Alex and Lena let the doctor’s words sink in as they both let out identical sighs of relief that Kara would survive to live another day.

“She’s awake if you want to see her right now. She’s a little groggy from the morphine so I suggest only one person at a time,” the doctor added.

Alex and Lena both turned to look at each other before blurting out, “you can go,” at the same time.

“I’ll let you decide, but please only one person at a time right now. She’s in Room 171,” the doctor gave them a small smile before leaving them alone in the waiting room.

“You go, she’s your sister,” Lena insisted once the doctor had left.

“Yeah, but she’s your…” Alex trailed off, not knowing what label to give Kara and Lena’s relationship. There was no denying that they had a special bond that transcended typical friendship.

Lena bit her lower lip as Alex trailed off and before she could think of a reply Alex was pulling her into a hug.

“I’ll see her after but you’re the one she needs right now,” Alex said into Lena’s ear. She pulled back and walked over to Kelly and the other firefighters to explain the situation, effectively ending their argument.

Lena bit her lip before taking a deep breath and steeling herself. She walked down the long hallways as she looked for room 171. The curtains were drawn so Lena was unable to see Kara from the outside.

As Lena stepped into the room, she could have sworn she felt her heart skip a beat. Kara laid on the bed shirtless with a bandage wrapped around her chest and head. The blanket was pulled up to conceal her toned stomach as her bruised arms lay on top. She was hooked up to an IV pole as a machine beeped steadily in the background in time with Kara’s heartbeat.

Lena blinked back tears as she felt her legs propel her to Kara’s side. She pulled up the plastic chair and winced as it scraped loudly on the floor. She grabbed Kara’s hand that didn’t have the IV needle connected to it and let out a sigh of relief as she felt the blonde’s warm hand in her own.

“You had us all scared for a moment there Kara,” Lena spoke softly as she looked at Kara’s face that was clean from dust which made her bruises and cuts all the more prominent. “You had me scared,” Lena continued, “I’m not sure what I would have done if you didn’t pull through.”

Lena took a shuddering breath as she reached forward to tuck a strand of blonde hair behind Kara’s ear. Lena made a mental note that she would wash Kara’s hair for her tomorrow. Lena could barely admit this fact to herself, but Kara was always on her mind every second of every day. She didn’t want to think about what it could have been like if Kara wasn’t there to brighten up every room with her smile and positive attitude.

“L-Lena?” Kara asked, throat dry as her eyes blinked slowly. She turned her head as her eyes slowly focused on Lena’s face.  
“I’m here,” Lena replied as she tried to blink back unshed tears. She let go of Kara’s hand to get up and pour Kara some water from the pitcher across the room. She brought the cup back and positioned the straw up to Kara’s chapped lips.

Kara drank the water greedily and conveyed her gratitude with her eyes. That was the thing about Kara and Lena. They understood each other in a way that no one else ever could, not even Alex or Kelly.

Once Kara was finished drinking, Lena set the empty cup down then walked back and resumed her position beside the Lieutenant, grabbing her hand once more.

“You look like shit,” Lena cracked a small smile at Kara in an attempt to lighten the heavy blanket of silence that had settled upon the room.

“You look beautiful,” Kara replied without thinking or missing a beat.

Lena instantly felt her cheeks go red at the compliment, “that’s just the morphine talking, darling.”

Kara wanted to deny it but decided now wasn’t the time. “Are you okay?” Kara asked as she rubbed the back of Lena’s hand with her thumb.

“Am I okay? You just had a building beam fall on you and you’re asking if I’m okay?” Lena asked with a laugh and shook her head in disbelief.

Kara stared at her expectantly, waiting for Lena’s answer.

‘I’m fine’ was on the tip of Lena’s tongue but this was Kara, her best friend, and after Kara’s promotion, they promised there would be no more lies between them. Lena let her shoulders sag in defeat, “physically yes. Mentally? No,” she admitted as she looked away.

Kara frowned as she gentled squeezed Lena’s hand to get the other woman to look at her, “talk to me.”

Lena looked into Kara’s warm blue eyes and the kindness within them. “It’s stupid,” Lena mumbled as she looked down at the IV in Kara’s arm.

“It’s not stupid to me,” Kara said softly. With a concealed wince, she lifted the hand with the IV needle in it to gently cup Lena’s cheek.

Lena felt herself unconsciously lean into the warmth of Kara’s palm.

“You know you can tell me anything, right?” Kara gave Lena a soft smile as her thumb ran over Lena’s cheekbone.

“Yeah…” Lena bit the inside of her cheek aware that she still had a massive secret that she’s been keeping from her best friend for years, “I know.”

Kara’s smile was blinding, and over the next fifteen minutes, Lena found herself pouring out all her feelings of self-doubt and fear for Kara’s life.

By the end, Lena was emotionally exhausted, and she could tell Kara was fighting to stay awake as the painkillers flowed through her system.

“Alex wanted to see you, but I’ll let her know that you’re asleep. You need the rest,” Lena said as she leaned forward to press her lips to Kara’s forehead. She gave Kara’s hand a small squeeze and stood up.

Before Lena could take a step, she felt Kara’s long fingers encircle her wrist. “Stay?” Kara asked voice laced with sleep as her eyes fluttered in an effort to look at Lena.

Lena was about to protest, but after a moment of hesitation and a quick text to Alex, she sat back down in the chair at Kara’s bedside.

“Always.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope the flashback wasn't too confusing and gives you more of a bit of an understanding of the backstories of some of the firefighters at Station 17. I am also not a medical doctor so if any of the injuries that Kara sustained do not make any sense according to her accident please let me know and I will try to make it as accurate as possible. I also hope it was clear that the last part was said by Lena. 
> 
> I apologize for leaving you all on that cliffhanger in the last chapter but thank you to everyone who has shown interest in this fic so far! Hopefully, everyone enjoyed this chapter, and see you all in the next!


	4. Always Need to Be Closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena touches Kara’s abs and gay panic ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I already have a theme going here (I went back and changed Chapter One’s title), I’m making all of the chapter titles lyrics from Aly & AJ songs. This chapter’s title is taken from their song [ With You](https://youtu.be/T4EJNEvYKgI).
> 
> This chapter is shorter than the last (and kind of a filler chapter), but the action should pick up again in the next chapter. Hope to see y’all there!

Kara’s body ached as her ears took in the beeping of machines. Her nose twitched, antiseptic scent filling her nostrils, and she knew she was in the hospital. Her memories slowly started to return as she groaned softly. Right, a building beam fell on her back.

Peeling her eyes open was a monumental struggle as she took in her surroundings. It was one of the larger hospital rooms, no doubt the department hooking her up, with a large window to the right with the curtain drawn closed.

Kara’s eyes landed on the crumpled form sitting in the plastic chair at her bedside. A flare of anger flashed through her at the thought that the hospital couldn’t even bring one of those large reclining chairs that Lena could sleep in. Kara knew she couldn’t be mad as the hospital staff was likely very busy and knowing Lena, she wouldn’t want to bother the doctors. Lena often forgot to take care of herself without constant reminders (though she only seemed to listen to Kara).

Shifting on the hospital bed, Kara bit back a whimper of pain as her lower back rippled in agony. Her ribs throbbed and she guessed that they were either bruised or broken. Her head was also pounding as she breathed slowly through the pain. She looked down at her arms, covered in small bruises, and finally noticed why her right hand was so warm. Her left arm had the IV needle, but her right hand was concealed in the warmth of Lena’s pale hand. The sight made Kara crack a small smile.

The hand not holding Lena’s reached up to gingerly touch her forehead where she found the thick layer of gauze over her wound.

She turned her head to watch Lena sleep, her hair a dark curtain blocking her facial features. Lena looked quite uncomfortable in her position and Kara just knew she could wake up with a crick in her neck.

“Stop watching me you creep,” Lena mumbled, voice laced with sleep as she stretched, several bones in her back cracking, without letting go of Kara’s hand.

“How long was I out?” Lena asked as she turned to look at Kara.

Kara shrugged but winced when the action pulled at the dressing around her ribs, “I just woke up too so I’m not sure.”

“Take it easy,” Lena chastised as she squeezed Kara’s hand gently. “Alex stopped by earlier just before I fell asleep. She said that she and Kelly would stop by once you’re awake. The team also wants to stop by and see how you are, but I know that might be a lot so just let me know what you’re comfortable with,” Lena informed Kara as she unconsciously began to stroke the back of Kara’s hand with her thumb while she spoke.

“If it’s alright, I just wanna be with you right now,” Kara admitted as she had a front-row seat to watching a light pink blush explode across Lena’s cheekbones.

“Of-of course,” Lena stuttered as she bit her lower lip and looked away shyly.

After a beat of silence, Lena looked Kara up and down, as if checking to see if she was really there.

“Should I get a doctor? Do you need anything? Water? Food? Are you cold? You must be cold you’re shirtless,” Lena rambled, a characteristic that she must have picked up from Kara and something that she rarely did.

“Hey slow down, take a breath,” Kara spoke softly as she gently tugged on Lena’s hand to ground her.

Once Lena took a deep breath Kara gave her a small smile, “there you go. I’m fine. You can call the doctor later, but as I said before, right now, I just want to be with you.”

Lena nodded as Kara scooted over in the hospital bed. Lena’s brow crinkled in confusion as she watched Kara shuffle, presumably to try and get more comfortable.

“Get in here,” Kara said once she got settled. She patted the space she made next to her and lifted her arm with a becoming gesture.

“What?” Lena’s voice pitched a few octaves higher than normal, “I don’t think that’s allowed, Kara.”

“So? When have you ever let rules stop you?” Kara challenged as she raised an eyebrow at Lena.

Lena huffed, crossing her arms over her chest as she thought for a few seconds.

“Fuck it,” Lena mumbled as she climbed into the bed, careful to not jostle Kara or the IV attached to her.

“That’s the spirit,” Kara grinned as she immediately wrapped her arm around Lena’s shoulders and tugged her closer.

Lena wasn’t expecting the sudden movement as she fell forward with a small squeak, hand shooting out to brace herself on something solid. Unfortunate for her, the solid thing that her hand had braced itself on was Kara’s exposed rock-hard abs.

“S-sorry,” Lena blushed yanking her hand back like she touched hot coals. Lena was always calm and composed. She prided herself on keeping her cool and always having control over situations. That all went out the window when she was around Kara Danvers. Lena turned into an awkward blushing teenager around the blonde and always managed to embarrass herself.

“It’s okay,” Kara whispered as she immediately missed the warmth of Lena’s hand when the paramedic jerked her hand back, “I should’ve given you some warning, just wanted you to be closer that’s all.”

Lena shook her head in response as she drew the covers up around Kara's middle section to hide the distracting abs before she did something stupid again. “Just get some rest,” Lena murmured as she settled against Kara’s side and tucked her head underneath Kara’s chin.

“I-,” Kara began but soon realized she wasn’t sure what she was going to say. She closed her mouth and clenched her jaw, the cogs in her brain turning faster even as she felt the morphine making her limbs feel heavy.

“The pain meds should be working now. Tell me after you get some sleep,” Lena said as she pressed a gentle kiss to the underside of Kara’s chin, the gesture seemingly way too friendly to be platonic.

“Okay,” Kara whispered as her hand rubbed soothing circles over Lena’s back even as her arm felt heavy from the movement. “Thank you for saving me, not just today, but always,” Kara whispered as she pressed a kiss to Lena’s head.

Kara waited for a response but quickly realized that Lena had already fallen asleep, her little puffs of air hitting Kara’s neck making shivers run down her spine.

“I love you,” Kara mumbled drowsily, feeling her eyelids droop as her hand stopped its movement and settled heavily on Lena’s back like a weighted blanket.

Lena snuggled against Kara’s side and slept peacefully for the first time in months. She even had a dream which she rarely does. In her dream, they were on a date and Kara confessed that she loved her. Despite being squished on an uncomfortable hospital bed made for one person, Lena drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up being more like a filler chapter but the next chapter should delve more into the backstory of Lena.


	5. All My Adoration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara’s going insane from not being allowed to work for two weeks. She decides to drop by the firehouse for a surprise visit to see her favorite people (featuring donuts of course). Meanwhile, Lena gets knocked off her feet by some startling news dropped on her by an old friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TIME JUMP! We skip to two weeks after Kara’s injury in this chapter. I hope y’all enjoy it!
> 
> This chapter’s title is taken from Aly & AJ’s song [ Sanctuary](https://youtu.be/F3OeZvnxxAYI).

TWO WEEKS LATER

Kara was going stir crazy on her medical leave. Alex, being Station 17’s Captain, had forced her to take two weeks to recover per Kara’s doctor’s orders. Kara’s ribs were now fully healed, and her concussion gone. She had a new scar on her hairline from her stitches and her lower back still hurt occasionally, but it was nothing she couldn’t handle.

Kara was due to return to work soon and she couldn’t be more excited to get back in her turnouts. The Lieutenant had already eaten, done her laundry, and cleaned her apartment inside and out. She was bored out of her mind, so she decided to surprise her family at the firehouse.

She slipped some black skinny jeans on as she mentally chastised herself when the button was a bit harder to do than normal. She was itching to get back to work and she missed the gym at work (clearly her body did too). Kara found her favorite blue button-down that made her eyes pop. She knew that Lena always complimented her if she wore this shirt but that of course had nothing to do with her decision to wear the shirt.

Kara rolled up her sleeves to expose her forearms and undid the first two buttons so that her collarbones were exposed. She slid on her black boots and decided to pick up some donuts for the team as an additional surprise.

The blond stopped by Noonan’s café near the station and grabbed two dozen donuts. She chatted with the manager who always greeted Kara with a smile. Kara’s first job had been at Noonan’s and they were always happy to see her whenever she came back.

Kara hummed to herself as she strode through the open bay doors of the fire station, holding the two boxes of donuts and looking around for any activity.

“Lieutenant!” Nia cheered as she ran up to Kara before she spied the donuts and gasped, “did you bring donuts from Noonan’s?”

Kara nodded as Nia squealed with excitement. “I missed you too, Nal,” Kara teased as she bumped shoulders with Nia.

“It’s good to see you, Lieutenant,” Brainy said as he gave Kara a nod before he left to finish his chores.

“Don’t worry about him,” Nia said as she waved her hand in the direction Brainy left, “I’m working with him on expressing his emotions,” Nia explained.

Kara shook her head with a smile, she had missed Brainy and his quirky antics.

“I’ll go get your girlfriend,” Nia said with a wink as she grabbed one of the donut boxes and sped off.

“She’s not my girlfriend!” Kara called after her, but it was useless as Nia was already gone.

“Who’s not your girlfriend?” Alex said, raising an eyebrow at her sister and crossing her arms over her chest.

“Alex!” Kara exclaimed as she held the donut box out of the way to tackle her sister into a bear hug.

“Woah, easy there tiger, you’re still recovering,” Alex reminded her as she returned the hug, happy to have her sister back.

Kara eased up on her grip and pulled back from the hug, both of them having matching smiles on their faces.

“Hey Kara,” Kelly popped her head out from the back of the ambulance, “how’re you feeling?”

“Hey, Kel! I’m doing great, excited to get back to work,” Kara said as she smiled at her sister-in-law.

“I hope you save a donut for me,” Kelly smiled as she disappeared back into the ambulance to finish inventory.

Kara pretended to think for a minute then laughed once Alex shot her a death glare. “Of course, anything for my _favorite_ sister,” Kara laughed loudly when Alex gave her a light shove, the playful action not having any effect on Kara.

“You brought donuts?” a familiar voice called out as Kara spun around to face Lena with a broad grin.

“Yeah, I thought you could use some fried sugary goodness in your life. You do eat donuts right, Ms. Lena ‘Kale’ Luthor,” Kara teased as she waved the box of donuts around.

Lena scoffed at the nickname, snatching the box from Kara’s grasp, “of course, I’m only human.”

Alex made a fake gagging sound from behind Kara as Lena raised an eyebrow at the older Danvers.

“Stop flirting in my firehouse and get a room,” Alex shuddered over dramatically as she walked towards Lena and grabbed the donut box from her hands.

Kara sputtered as she quickly snatched the donut box back from her sister as Lena tried not to laugh at the bickering siblings.

Alex huffed and opened the donut box to seize one and quickly shoved it into her mouth before walking away.

“And we weren’t flirting,” Kara called out, but it fell on deaf ears as Alex was already gone.

“Don’t worry about her, darling,” Lena purred as she walked closer to Kara, her fingers trailing over Kara’s exposed forearms.

The blonde gulped at Lena’s proximity and the sultry tone of her voice. Her grip on the paper box tightened as she could feel it crumbling beneath her long fingers.

“We have the donuts,” Lena whispered with a conspiratorial smirk. She grabbed the box from Kara’s strong grip with a victorious cackle.  
Kara stood there with her mouth open slightly, hands still out in front of her holding air now instead of the donut box.

Lena laughed at Kara’s frozen state, grabbing the blonde’s elbow to drag her to the beanery so that they could eat their donuts together.

“Little Danvers!” a voice explained as Kara whirled around at the sound of someone she hadn’t heard in a long time.

“Maggie?” Kara asked as she took the smaller woman into a strong hug. “How’ve you been? I haven’t seen you since Alex and Kelly’s wedding,” Kara smiled, missing her old friend.

“Yeah, I’ve been okay. How are you? I heard a beam fell on you,” Maggie, Alex’s ex-fiancé asked.

“I’ve been better,” Kara smiled, “you’ve met Lena, right?” Kara asked, gesturing towards the woman standing next to her.

“It’s nice to see you again Detective Sawyer,” Lena said as Kara noticed her best friend had immediately put her walls back up again. Kara put a hand on the small of Lena’s back to comfort her as she felt the woman’s shoulders relax a little bit at the gesture.

“Please, call me Maggie,” the shorter woman said.

“Are you here for social or business?” Kara asked.

“Unfortunately, business. And you,” she pointed to Lena, “are just the woman I am looking for.”

Kara and Lena both frowned at the implication of a police detective needing to talk to Lena.

“You can talk in Alex’s office,” Kara suggested, taking the donuts from Lena’s hands as she was about to make her way to the beanery.

“Wait,” Lena exclaimed, a little too loud as a few people turned to look over at them. Lena’s cheeks turned a little red, “please, stay.”

Kara gave Lena a soft smile, eyes crinkling, “of course.”

They all walked to Alex’s office in somber silence, already fearing the worst. Kara gestured for Maggie to sit in Alex’s chair behind the desk as Lena sat across from her.

Kara closed the blinds and the door as she sat next to Lena. She noticed the paramedic’s leg bouncing up and down and Lena wringing her hands as she often did when nervous.

The Lieutenant reached over to place a hand on Lena’s knee in a comforting gesture.

Lena’s gay brain didn’t even have time to comprehend the warmth of Kara’s touch as her heart pounded violently in her chest with anticipation.

“Look, I’m not going to sugarcoat it and I know you wouldn’t want me to so I’m just going to say it,” Maggie said as she clasped her hands together on Alex’s desk.

Lena waited with bated breath as Kara gave her knee a reassuring squeeze.

“Your brother escaped prison this morning. We just put out an APB for him and I came straight here to tell you once I heard the news,” Maggie explained.

Lena felt her heart skip a beat as Kara gripped her knee tighter. Lena’s hand shot down to grip Kara’s hand, needing something to ground herself.

“I-” Lena began to speak before she was cut off.

Of course, the universe seemed to hate her as the klaxons blared throughout the station, “Ambulance 17, Person in distress,” before Lena could respond to the distressing news.

“I have to go,” Lena stood up, legs shaking slightly as Kara stood up to steady her.

“You don’t have to. I’m sure Alex can tag you out,” Kara asked as Lena was already shaking her head.

“It’s my job,” Lena responded, letting go of Kara’s arm and rushing out the door before anyone else could protest.

Kara turned her steel gaze on the detective, arms crossed over her chest and Lieutenant voice on, “tell me what happened, and don’t spare any details.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lex has escaped! I hope to delve more into the Luthor backstory in the next chapter and hopefully, Kara will be back on duty soon. Thanks for all the support I have received on this story so far. See you in the next chapter!


	6. Not My First Tear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena processes Maggie's news and Kara tries to help her best friend through it. Lena doesn't know how to deal with her feelings ends up pushing the ones she loves away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you get some backstory on the Luthors, specifically Lex and what he has done in this universe. Hope y’all enjoy it! 
> 
> This chapter’s title is taken from Aly & AJ’s song [ Promises](https://youtu.be/cs87SSF2RTY).

Lena couldn’t let herself think too much about the news that Maggie had just dropped on her. She shoved all of her emotions in a little box; she had to focus on work.

“Hey, you okay?” Kelly asked as she drove to the address given to her by dispatch.

“I’m fine,” Lena responded, staring straight ahead, with her infamous poker face devoid of all emotion.

Kelly has known Lena enough to recognize when the woman was lying but knew that now wasn’t the time to push so, she kept her mouth shut and continued to drive.

Lena felt a little bit bad about lying to her partner but right now she couldn’t let herself get emotional. She had a job to do and she wasn’t going to let some feelings get in her way.

Kelly pulled up to the address of the victim as they both rushed in, eager to do their jobs and help.

* * *

Back at the firehouse, Maggie had just briefed Kara on everything that she knew about Lex Luthor’s escape.

Kara was fuming by the end of it, unable to comprehend how someone like Lex could have just disappeared into thin air. Kara had asked Lena about her half-brother before and her best friend was often not too keen on sharing about her past, but Kara had gotten Lena to share a little bit over the years.

From Lena’s accounts and the news, the Lieutenant knew that Lex Luthor was not your average criminal. He was cunning and always managed to evade punishment for his crimes. He had committed many acts of arson throughout his lifetime, spending his youth in and out of juvenile facilities. However, he never stayed in juvie for long as his mother, Lillian Luthor, was always there in an instant to bail him out. Lex was a deviant mastermind and as he grew older, his crimes became bigger and more dangerous. He was getting smarter too and always slipped right through law enforcement’s fingers, no doubt with Lillian’s help.

Lex’s latest offense had landed him in federal prison and this time Lillian wouldn’t be able to help him. Lillian Luthor, CEO of Luthor Corp, couldn’t afford to tarnish her public image and her company by helping her son. This time, he was on his own. Lex had created a homemade bomb and set it off inside of an elementary school, the whole building catching ablaze within seconds. Eight teachers and three students had died that day with many more injured, one of the biggest tragedies in National City to date.

That was also the day that Lena decided she wanted to be a firefighter and paramedic. Watching the firefighters rush into that burning building and save all those teachers and children had ignited something inside of Lena. When she found out that it was her half-brother who caused all the carnage she witnessed that day, she knew what she had to do. Lena was fresh out of MIT and set to work at Luthor Corp under Lillian, but Lena had enough. She knew the Luthors were not the best people and she had put up with them for twenty years of her life, but she knew it was time to leave that part of her life behind. After Lena had testified against her half-brother in court, she cut off all ties with the Luthors and enrolled in the Fire Academy in Metropolis. After passing all of her firefighter and paramedic exams, Lena was assigned to Station 32. She worked there until there were too many whispers and stares about her last name that she decided she needed a clean start. Thus, she decided to move to National City and now she finally found her family at Station 17.

Most of the details about Lex that Kara heard from Lena were not pleasant ones except one. The one good memory of Lex that Lena has was when he taught her how to play chess when she was five years old. They would often play against each other with Lena beating him every time. Lena told Kara that she chooses to remember Lex that way, not the Lex that he had grown to become. That is why Lena decided to keep the Luthor name as well, she wanted a reminder of her past and show the world that not all Luthors were bad.

Kara balled a fist at her side, wanting nothing more than to track down Lex herself and beat him to a pulp. Kara took a deep breath, uncurling her fist, knowing that getting angry wouldn’t help anyone. The blonde worried her bottom lip between her teeth, growing more concerned about her best friend by the minute.

“Hey, Lena’s tough, she’ll be fine,” Maggie said as if she could read Kara’s mind, placing a comforting hand on the Lieutenant’s broad shoulder.

“I know, but it just unsettles me that he’s out there somewhere,” Kara admitted as she looked out the office’s glass window that overlooked the station. She watched Nia as she cleaned the engine with Brainy not too far from her organizing the hoses.

“I promise to keep both of you updated on the situation, but I thought she should be the first to know before his face and the Luthor name is plastered over every TV in the city,” Maggie sighed.

“Thank you,” Kara whispered softly. She always liked Maggie when she dated Alex and she couldn’t believe that this woman almost became her sister-in-law instead of Kelly. After Maggie broke Alex’s heart, Kara and Maggie didn’t talk for a while but recently have decided to let go of their grudges and try to be friends again.

“I’ve got to get back to the station, but take care of her alright?” Maggie gave Kara a sad smile and rubbed the taller woman’s back before exiting the office leaving Kara alone with her thoughts.

Kara stood there looking down at her team as she felt a dampness on her cheeks. She hadn’t even realized that she had started crying as she quickly wiped her face. At that moment, Kara promised herself that she would do everything in her power to protect Lena and be there for her no matter what happened.

As if on cue, the ambulance pulled back into the station as Kara sprinted out of the office and tore down the stairs.

Kara ran into Kelly first who gave Kara a smile that didn’t quite reach her bright eyes. Kara gave her a similar smile in return as her sister-in-law walked away leaving Kara alone with Lena.

“Can we talk?” Kara asked as soon as Lena had shut the passenger door of the ambulance.“I’m on shift, Kara,” Lena replied, knowing that it was a lame excuse that Kara could easily see right through.

Kara leveled Lena with a look as she held out her hand, wiggling her fingers as she waited for Lena to take it.

Lena sighed as she stared at Kara’s hand, then into the blonde’s azure eyes. “Fine,” Lena huffed as she took the Lieutenant’s hand and let herself be dragged to Kara’s quarters.

Kara led her to the bed and waited for Lena to sit as she closed the door and sat next to Lena on the bed.

“Thank you for talking with me. I just want to let you know that I’m here for you in any way that you need me. I promise,” Kara swore as she took Lena’s hand and looked at Lena.

Lena let her eyes connect with Kara’s as the warmth of the blonde’s large hand spread over her own. Lena saw all the emotion swirling in her best friend’s eyes and silently cursed her for always being so noble and wearing her heart on her sleeve. Lena couldn’t take seeing that look in Kara’s eyes anymore and she knew she had to stop it before it got too out of hand.

Lena abruptly stood up as she ripped her hand from Kara’s, instantly missing the warmth. “This was a mistake,” Lena mumbled as she turned around, too much of a coward to even see the hurt plastered on Kara’s face.

Before Kara could even process what was happening, the other woman wretched the door open and sprinted away. Kara was once again left alone, the faint smell of Lena’s perfume still lingering in the air, the confused and wounded expression still on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was somewhat of another cliffhanger, but I have more excitement planned for the next chapter. Poor Lena is just a confused baby who only knows what the Luthors taught her.


	7. Dance Away Your Fear of Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara works to mend her breaking heart and the universe apparently seems to hate her today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lena is really going through it y’all. They both just need to hug it out but unfortunately, things are not that easy. Here's a short little chapter to hopefully tie you guys over for the time being. 
> 
> This chapter’s title is taken from Aly & AJ’s song [ Don’t Go Changing](https://youtu.be/e0Mv2HVh314). I feel like this song really fits our ladies and it was difficult to choose just one lyric for the title. Kara’s thoughts, in the beginning, are heavily influenced by the lyrics and I highly suggest looking at them and/or giving the song a listen.

Kara sat still on the bed in her quarters, still flabbergasted at Lena’s words as she wondered if the tightening in her chest was to do with her injury acting up or if it was just the way her heart was breaking just a little bit further.

She blinked back the urge to cry at Lena giving her the cold shoulder, acting as if they were strangers when they’ve been friends for so long. Kara wished she could say that she was not used to this kind of behavior from her best friend, but the depressing truth was that Lena did this often. Even after being friends for three-and-a-half years, Kara was still chipping away at Lena’s armor every day. While they had made immense progress over the years, whenever Lena was thrust into a traumatic situation, she would immediately throw her walls back up and revert to the unhealthy ways drilled into her as a child by the Luthors.

Kara and Lena had many talks about it throughout their friendship with the blonde insisting that she would _always_ be in Lena’s corner, rooting for her. Lena would continuously apologize for her unconscious behavior, promising to be better next time, and they would cry and snuggle over a tub of ice cream and a movie on Kara’s couch. Despite immediately forgiving Lena and helping her friend through it, every time it happened, Kara’s heart would break just a little bit further.

The blonde knew that the Luthors would constantly tell Lena that she wasn’t good enough, basically beat the sentiment into her. While Lillian and Lex never lay a finger on Lena, their words were enough to chip away at Lena’s self-esteem year after year after year. Eventually, Lena began to believe their words as truth, believing that she would never be deserving of love.

Kara wanted so desperately to gather Lena into her arms and help her overcome her fear of love and heal, together. If Lena was hers, Kara would spend every second of every single day reminding Lena that she is cherished, beautiful, and loved unconditionally.

Unfortunately, while Lena was all that Kara wanted and more, Lena wasn’t hers and it hurt to see her best friend fading, slipping further and further away.

The lieutenant was aware that Lena hated discussing her feelings despite several people—including Kara, Alex, and Kelly—suggesting that Lena see a department or non-department therapists or perhaps even finding at least one person to talk to. They all wanted to help, and Lena knew it too, but it was hard for her to ask for it sometimes.

Kara stared at the beige wall in front of her, heart aching with the need to go seek Lena out. However, Lena most likely wanted to be alone so Kara had to respect her friend’s boundaries, or she might risk pushing Lena even further away.

The blonde decided that after the day’s she’s had, she deserved to treat herself to a tub of ice cream and a movie even if her favorite person was missing.

Kara stood up and immediately felt a shooting pain in her lower back. She hissed in discomfort as her hand went to press on the spot on her back that was quickly pulsating. The firefighter hobbled over, breathing through her nose to try and regulate her pain. She made it to the open door and gripped the frame for balance, stopping for a moment to catch her breath and hoping that it would go away on its own.

“Fucking hell,” she mumbled under her breath, the throbbing rapidly increasing into a sharper pain that she could no longer ignore.

It wasn’t enough that she had to get her heart broken again but the universe decided today was ‘Let’s Fuck with Kara Danvers Day’ and decided she needed some physical pain to add to the mix.

“Hey Kara?” the blonde heard a voice from down the hallway, “have you seen Lena? I thought I saw her go this way with you earlier.”

Kelly came into view as her curious expression morphed into one of concern as she saw Kara hunched over and clutching the door frame, her face contorted in agony.

“Oh my god, Kara! Are you okay?” Kelly asked, eyes widening as she made her way towards the lieutenant.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” Kara gasped out, clearly not fine as she struggled to stay upright. All of a sudden, for a brief moment, Kara’s pain went away as she smiled slightly, despite the sinking feeling that it was most likely a bad thing that the firefighter could no longer feel her legs anymore.

“Lena liked my donutsss,” Kara slurred as she felt herself sway despite leaning heavily on the doorframe. She watched Kelly’s blurred form rush toward her, almost as if she was running in slow motion.

Then… everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun! Here’s another cliffhanger! I don’t really plan out my chapters and I just let them happen so here’s the result. I hope y’all enjoyed this shorter chapter and I really appreciate all the support I have gotten on this story so far. Thank you all and see you at the next one!


	8. Your Light is Fading Out Too Soon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara’s trapped in her memories of when the beam fell on her. Meanwhile, Lena finds out about Kara’s condition and it brings up some more feelings and pushes her to make a decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is for jbrame713 who wanted more details on how Kara was rescued from the building and the scramble to get her out. Just a heads up in case there is any confusion, the beginning part is a flashback. 
> 
> This chapter’s title is taken from Aly & AJ’s song [ I Know](https://youtu.be/b5WQEmJ4idQ).

Kara groaned at the blaring sound of her PASS device going off, the high-pitched beeping reverberating through her throbbing skull. This situation didn’t feel right; something here was off.

The lieutenant tried to stand but discovered that something was pinning her down. She could hear the firefighters around her shouting her name, screaming at her to call out.

She took a mental tally of who was in the building with her. She remembered Teschmacher, Rojas, and Huang evacuated the building as they had cleared their side already. Over the radio, Captain Danvers had mentioned that Luthor and Olsen were out as well assisting with the victims who had smoke inhalation and some other minor injuries. Nal, Dox, and Arias were with her somewhere, but she couldn’t see them.

“Lieutenant!” Brainy yelled, “Call out!”

“Danvers! Where are you? Call out!” Nia’s voice repeated after his.

Sam’s voice broke through the yelling as the lieutenant groaned loudly from her position. Sam spotted her and shouted, “Kara!” before running towards her and falling to her knees to assess the damage.

Nia and Brainy immediately came up behind Sam to help move the beam that was pinning Kara to the ground.

“Mayday, firefighter down!” Nia screamed over her radio, the shrill sound of her voice piercing through the fog of Kara’s brain.

Kara groaned loudly as the beam’s crushing weight shifted atop her fragile human body. She tried to move but the bulky metal was still pinning a majority of her lower half down.

“Stay still Danvers,” Sam held Kara down by her shoulders as Nia and Brainy worked to move the beam off of her.

Brainy grunted as Nia yelled in exertion, finally pushing the thick beam off of their lieutenant, the object hitting the ground with a heavy thud.

Kara coughed as she felt her lungs fill up with smoke with every inhale. Her head was throbbing, and her chest constricted painfully with every breath, a result of her broken ribs.

“The building’s unstable, get out of there **now** ,” Captain Danvers’s voice crackled frantically through their radios.

“Copy, Cap,” Sam responded as they could all hear the worry in Alex’s voice. They knew they had to get Kara out somehow, but carrying her seemed out of the question, their lieutenant was 150 pounds of pure muscle not counting all of her gear. They also didn’t want to risk bending her if she had a possible spinal injury; they had to keep her as flat as possible.

“Brainy, there!” Nia exclaimed, pointing to a piece of relatively flat wood that could be used as a makeshift backboard.

“Good eye,” Brainy nodded and ran to get it, pushing debris out of the way and pulling it out of the rubble.

He ran back and placed it on the floor next to Kara, “okay, on three,” he said making eye contact with Sam.

Sam nodded as Brainy counted to three. They shifted Kara on her side who cried out in pain as they shoved the board under her and eased her back onto it.

“Sorry,” Sam winced as she moved to grip the board near Kara’s head as Brainy picked up the board near Kara’s feet and they hoisted her up.

“Nal, lead the way,” Brainy said as he and Sam make sure Kara was steady on the board before they began to move.

Following Nia’s lead, they navigated their way around the crumbling building towards the nearest exit as Alex guided them over the radio.

Finally, Nia spotted an opening where she could get them through as she ushered them to follow her. She informed Alex over the radio that they would be coming out of the southside and to have a medical team on standby.

Nia went first as the rest of 17 was there to receive her as Kelly and Lena immediately swarmed around her.

“Don’t worry about me,” Nia batted Kelly’s hand away even as she coughed, “Kara’s hurt.”

Nia could see the panic in Lena’s eyes and a similar worried look on Alex’s face even as Kelly urged an oxygen mask over her face and led Nia to sit over by the ambulance.

Kara groaned as she felt the light hit her face even with her eyes closed. Every breath was painful, her chest hurt like something was sitting on her chest and her lower back throbbed in time with her head.

“Kara!” Lena cried out as she ran over to where Sam and Brainy were carrying her on the makeshift backboard. Lena and Alex relieved Sam and Brainy of Kara as they carried the wounded lieutenant over to the gurney.

The other paramedics looked over Sam and Brainy as Lena began to assess Kara’s injuries. Kelly had sent Alex away to check on Nia as she helped Lena check the blonde over.

“Kara?” Lena asked as she pried open the blonde’s eyelids and shone a light in them, “can you hear me?”

Kara felt herself awake with a start, her body jerking violently on the bed.

“Kara?” Lena asked, an echo of Kara’s earlier dream—no _flashbac_ k—as the blonde breathed heavily.

Lena was by her side immediately as she helped Kara sit up. “Breathe, darling,” Lena urged as she coached Kara until her breathing returned to normal.

“That’s it,” Lena cooed, as she held Kara’s head to her chest, letting the blonde hear her heartbeat.

Kara sighed, shoulders sagging with exhaustion as she let the sound of Lena’s heartbeat calm her racing one. Once her breathing returned to normal, she finally registered where her face was buried: between Lena’s very perfect and soft breasts.

“Soft,” Kara mumbled against one of the round globes, her face pressing against the warm flesh.

“What was that?” Lena mumbled, raising an eyebrow as she pulled away, despite knowing perfectly what the blonde had said.

“Um,” Kara blushed as she pulled away, unsure of how to save herself from that one.

Lena just laughed as she smoothed the blonde’s hair away from her face.

Once her laughing died down, Lena’s face turned serious as she looked away. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, still not meeting Kara’s eyes.

“I forgive you,” Kara answered right away, knowing that her reply would always be the same no matter what.

“Well, you shouldn’t,” Lena said with a self-deprecative tone.

“Lena-” Kara began as Lena shook her head and held a hand up to stop her.

“I thought I’d lost you,” Lena interrupted as she bit the inside of her cheek. “The day of your accident was arguably one of the scariest moments of my life,” she admitted, “and then when Kelly told me you had collapsed right after I ran from you I-” Lena’s sentence was cut off by a choked sob as she pressed her face into Kara’s hair, tears falling onto the blonde’s head.

“Lena…” Kara whispered as her arms slid around Lena’s waist and held her close.

“I can’t do that again,” Lena admitted as she sniffled against Kara’s head as she felt the lieutenant wrap her arms around her waist.

“You don’t have to,” Kara pleaded, wanting nothing more than to cup Lena’s face between her hands and kiss the other woman’s tears away.

“You can’t promise that,” Lena said, shaking her head, “not in our line of work.”

Kara knew that Lena was correct in her statement as she just tightened her arms around Lena and pressed her face into her chest.

Lena took a deep breath, warmth spreading through her body at Kara’s touch. She reluctantly pulled away, instantly missing the comforting feeling of Kara’s body against hers. “I’ve had a lot of time to think when you were out,” Lena began, “and I won’t run away or do anything rash this time, but I think it’s time for that talk now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like Lena’s finally ready to talk! Maybe they’re finally getting somewhere; tune in next chapter to find out what happens next. Thanks for all the support and love this fic has gotten so far!


	9. Make a Move and Make it Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena thinks back on what happened to Kara and the feelings that it evoked in her. She and Kara finally have their talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The beginning part is someone of a backtrack to what happened right after Kara passed out. Hopefully, it clears up some confusion as to how Kara got to the hospital and why she passed out. 
> 
> This chapter’s title is taken from Aly & AJ’s song [ Take Me](https://youtu.be/2Q3iLOl1gPM).

Lena felt instant regret flood her system as she wrenched her hand away from Kara. She fled quickly before she could see the hurt look that she knew was on Kara’s face; a look that Lena was responsible for.

The paramedic sprinted down the stairs, wiping her tears away as she went to find Kelly. Little did she know, Kelly was back where Lena just was trying to find her.

Lena barely left Kara, roughly two minutes ago, before she heard Kelly’s frantic yell of Kara’s name.

Lena instantly froze in her spot for half a second before her firefighter instincts kicked in and she made a 180 and bounded up the stairs, taking two at a time. She found Kelly hunched over Kara’s prone form, the blonde motionless and completely passed out.

“What happened?” Lena asked, immediately bending down to check Kara’s pulse even though she knew that was the first thing Kelly probably did. Lena just needed to feel the blonde’s pulse beneath her fingers to ease her own rapidly beating heart.

“I’m not sure,” Kelly said as she palpated Kara’s body for injuries and Lena sighed in relief when she found Kara’s pulse. “I was asking her if she’s seen you and she was clutching the door and her face was twisted in pain,” Kelly began, “then I asked Kara if she was okay and of course that dumbass said she was fine,” Kelly added a fond eye roll. Lena knew that Kelly’s way of dealing with stressful situations was sarcasm and humor, one of the many reasons that she was Lena’s best friend. “The last thing she said was ‘Lena liked my donuts’ before she passed out,” Kelly said with a snort.

“Of course she did,” Lena huffed as she let go of Kara’s wrist and moved her fingers along the blonde’s back to help Kelly search for injuries.

“I think it might be her back,” Kelly said, brows furrowing in thought, “she was clutching it when she passed out.”

“Can we flip her over?” Lena asked as she and Kelly were already moving to flip Kara onto her side so they could view her back.

Lena yanked Kara’s blue button-down from where it was tucked into her jeans. Lena loved how the shirt made Kara’s eyes pop. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and pulled the shirt up to view Kara’s back.

Kelly gasped as Lena sucked in a stuttering breath at how all of Kara’s back muscles were flexed and tight. While the thirsty part of Lena’s brain instantly admired all the muscles in Kara’s back, the tightness in Kara’s back muscles alerted all the red flags in the paramedic side of her brain. “It’s very swollen,” Lena said as her hand reached out to gently touch Kara’s lower back, “and warm to the touch,” the paramedic added.

“She most likely has internal bleeding, possibly a muscle bleed due to blunt force trauma. She must have passed out from the pain and blood loss,” Kelly concluded, knowing that in very rare cases, complications from blunt force trauma show up weeks after the initial injury.

“Shit, we need to get her to The Tower,” Lena said, voice rising in pitch as her concern grew. If only she hadn’t run away from Kara. She should have noticed something was wrong. Why wasn’t she there to help her? Kara could have died…again. Lena could have done something and yet she was too busy running away like a coward.

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up about it,” Kelly said, placing a hand on Lena’s shoulder, knowing exactly what her best friend was thinking. “I already called for an additional Ambulance,” Kelly added knowing that she and Lena would be a wreck trying to get Kara to The Tower themselves. Kelly would rather have them all be alive than to be in a ditch on the side of the road somewhere.

As if on cue, they heard footsteps pounding up the stairs as Kelly yelled, “in here!”

Lena was numb, unable to form any words as Kelly relayed the information to the other paramedics.

“Come on, Lena,” Kelly said as she helped Lena stand, “it wasn’t your fault,” she said as she rubbed Lena’s back. “I talked to Alex and she can’t take the day off because of Captain duties, but she told us we could and to take care of Kara,” Kelly added as she led Lena out of the bunks.

Lena nodded and let herself follow Kelly, the world around her numb and muted without Kara’s sunshine.

* * *

“Lena?” Kara asked, bringing Lena out of her memories as the blonde gently shook Lena’s shoulder. “Where’d you go?” the lieutenant asked, her signature crinkle forming between her brows.

“I-” Lena began as she thought for a moment then sighed, “you know what, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you and I have this talk that I have avoiding for quite some time now.”

“Before you say anything, I just want to get this off of my chest,” Kara began. “I want to say how grateful I am to both you and Kelly and for bringing me here and not letting me bleed out and die,” before Lena could respond Kara recognized her look and gave Lena a small smile, “I read my chart when you were in the bathroom.”

Lena nodded as she wasn’t the least bit surprised.

“I also want to say that what I said before still stands. I am still here for you in any way that you need me. I know I can’t promise that forever, but I can promise to try every day of my life proving that to you,” Kara admitted as she grabbed Lena’s hand.

Lena had to hold back her tears as she bit her lower lip and nodded, “that means a lot to me. Thank you.”

Kara gave Lena a soft smile, tugging on Lena’s hand so that the paramedic was nestled in the hospital bed next to her.

Lena snuggled against Kara’s side, remembering the similar position she was in two weeks ago when Kara was first admitted into the hospital. “I know I’m not the best at expressing my emotions and I’ve been trying my best, but I haven’t been trying enough. I’ve hurt you and that’s not okay.”

Kara opened her mouth to refute the statement, but Lena shook her head and whispered, “please let me finish.”

The lieutenant shut her mouth with a slight not, letting Lena continue.

“You don’t deserve what I have put you through and I can’t promise that it won’t happen again, but I will try everything in my power to make sure that I do not hurt you again. I can’t be the reason you’re hurting Kara Danvers. You’re too good for this world, too good for me. I’m so grateful that you’ve been my friend all these years and always stood by me even when things got rough. That being said, I’ve had some feelings that I’ve been bottling up for quite some time now. Yeah, how ‘on brand’ for me as Nia would say,” Lena chuckled a little bit, resting her cheek against Kara’s chest. Somehow it was easier for her to say all of these things when she didn’t have to look Kara in the eye.

Kara just let Lena speak as she rested her hand on Lena’s back, tracing soothing patterns over her shirt.

Lena continued, “When I heard that you were the one that was down inside that building two weeks ago, it brought all those emotions back bubbling to the surface. I couldn’t sleep at night because I kept having nightmares where I would lose you forever. I knew that I had to say something before that happened, but I was just waiting for the right time. I was terrified of my feelings changing our friendship, so I waited. Then two weeks passed, and you almost died on me again. I know that you probably don’t feel the same way about me, but I have to let you know because I can’t afford to lose you. I just want to make sure you know how much you mean to me and I know we are doing this kind of backward, but nothing is ever straight with us,” Kara laughed a bit at Lena’s pun, “I…I love you, Kara Zorel Danvers,” Lena admitted softly, pressing her face to Kara’s chest.

Kara was speechless for once, unable to form any words as her hand froze its patterns on Lena’s back. Never in a million years did Kara think her one-sided crush would be reciprocated. Now that Lena had admitted to only what Kara dared to dream of, she hasn’t got the faintest idea of what to do.

“Please, say something?” Lena whispered, her voice shaking and betraying her nerves.

“You don’t understand how long I’ve been waiting for you to say that,” Kara admitted, the air leaving her lungs with a fast ‘whoosh’.

“Wait, what?” Lena asked as she moved her head up from Kara’s chest to look down at her with surprise. Her brain scrambling to process that Kara felt the same way about her.

“But we can’t act on it,” Kara said with a sad sigh, “the department won’t let us without risking one of us having to leave 17 or one, potentially both, of us losing our jobs.”

Lena knew Kara was right as she nodded, pressing her face back into Kara’s chest, blinking back her tears from the roller coaster of emotions that she had gone through recently.

They both laid pressed together in the small hospital bed for about five minutes, neither of them speaking and just processing the confessions spoken between them.

Kara finally broke the silence first, “I have a suggestion, but I’m not sure if you’re willing to go through with it. I just really want to be able to take you on a date and eventually call you my girlfriend. I don’t want to assume or force you into anything; it’s just an idea, albeit a very risky one, but if you’ll have me, I **really** want to date you Lena Kieran Luthor,” Kara whispered, hoping Lena would accept her risky proposal.

“Are you insinuating that we go behind everyone’s back and date in secret?” Lena asked, raising an eyebrow at Kara.

“Well, that sounds kinda bad when you put it like that,” Kara blushed at Lena’s arched brow.

Lena laughed and shook her head, “I just never imagined Kara ‘goody two shoes’ Danvers to break the rules.”

“Oh, I’ve broken plenty of rules,” Kara sputtered, an adorable pout forming on her face.

Lena just raised an eyebrow at Kara before she laughed at the blonde’s pout. “You know I’m just teasing you, darling,” Lena smiled as she smoothed her finger over Kara’s brow to get rid of her pout.

“I’ll have you know I’m very good at breaking rules,” Kara huffed, her lower lip sticking out and Lena was sure that if they were standing Kara would’ve stamped her foot in protest.

“I’m sure you are, love” Lena smiled, loving the blush that spread across Kara’s cheeks at the term of endearment.

“You just wait Luthor; there’s a whole different side of me that you’ve never seen,” Kara boasted in her authoritative lieutenant voice, a smirk of her own spreading as she noticed Lena’s confidence falter.

“We’ve got time,” Lena shrugged, “I’ll be looking forward to seeing it,” she replied, hoping that Kara didn’t notice her voice pitch a slight octave higher as she cleared her throat.

Kara’s face lit up as she soon forgot all about their teasing banter, “wait, does this mean that you’ll let me take you on a date?”

“Yes, darling,” Lena couldn’t help the smile that crossed her face. “The doctors want you to stay for a few more hours, but I already told Kelly and Alex that I’d be taking care of you tonight so we can order take out and work on your lying skills,” Lena smirked at the flabbergasted look on Kara’s face.

“Hey! I’m not a bad liar,” Kara protested but her indignant tone was lost to the giant smile that spread across her face at the thought that Lena wanted to date her.

“Just get some rest you idiot,” Lena leaned up to press a small kiss to Kara’s jaw before tucking her face back under the blonde’s chin.

“I love you too, Lena,” Kara grinned, pressing a responding kiss to Lena’s head as the paramedic sighed happily.

Lena let herself be lulled to sleep by the feeling of Kara’s strong, and very-much-alive, heart pumping steadily beneath her cheek.

Kara and Lena both fell asleep with matching smiles on their faces, the warmth of each other’s bodies allowing them to have the best sleep they’ve both had in years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I am not a paramedic or medical professional so I apologize if any of the scientific information is incorrect or improbable. Please let me know if it is and I will try to fix it. It’s finally (somewhat) looking up for our girls! I wonder, how long can they go sneaking around? Thank you for all your love and support for this story so far!


	10. You Make me Feel Out of my Element

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena and Kara have their little date (featuring Thirsty Lena™️ and Kara’s dog Potsticker)!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have reached Chapter 10! Honestly, I didn’t think we would make it this far and this started as a little something I wrote for my English class because I was binge-watching Station 19 and it reignited (haha see what I did there?) my idea for a Firefighter AU. I genuinely don’t know how I’ve written this many chapters but we just gonna keep going, I guess! That you to everyone who has supported this story so far, whether that be commenting, dropping a kudo, sharing it, and more. I really appreciate every one of y’all! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! 
> 
> This chapter’s title is taken from Aly & AJ’s song [ Chemicals React](https://youtu.be/LR9BZgZQXy0).

Kara groaned as she slowly blinked the sleep from her eyes. She felt a comforting weight on her chest, wondering if she had somehow acquired a dog or cat that she was unaware of. Suddenly, a familiar scent drifted up to her nose as she looked down to see a mop of raven hair resting on her chest. Kara felt her memories flooding back to her as an unconscious smile spread across her face.

She stared down at Lena who was softly snoring on her chest. Kara felt her heart fill with warmth at the sight. It was almost enough to alleviate the shooting pain in her back.

Almost.

Kara knew the morphine was wearing off when the pain in her back returned but Lena just looked so peaceful sleeping on her chest and Kara didn’t want to disturb her.

She breathed heavily through her nose as she pushed through the pain. She wanted to go on her date with Lena later tonight and knew that if she took another dose of morphine those plans would go right out the window. The morphine made her way too drowsy and that also meant that she would have to stay at the hospital longer which was the last thing that she wanted to do.

So, Kara grit her teeth and held her body as still as possible, like a plank on a pirate ship.

“Mh, Kara? Why you so stiff?” Lena mumbled sleepily against Kara’s chest as she slowly lifted her head to take in her surroundings.

As soon as Lena noticed Kara’s eyes squeezed shut, face twisted in a somewhat pained expression, Lena shot off the blonde’s body as if she had been burned by one of the fires that they see daily, “Oh my god, I wasn’t hurting you, was I?”

Kara shook her head, immediately missing Lena’s warmth despite the pain that she was in right now.

“Do you need more morphine? Should I call a nurse? The doctor?” Lena rambled as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and climbed out of the bed.

“No morphine,” Kara shook her head as her fists clenched and unclenched at her sides. “Back just hurts a bit, no worries,” Kara gave Lena a weak smile that definitely caused the paramedic to worry.

“The doctors assured me that they were able to stop your internal bleeding, but it will be a painful recovery,” Lena said as she looked to the heart monitor to see what Kara’s vitals were. Her heart rate seemed to be slightly elevated, but that was understandable given the situation.

“I’ll be alright,” Kara insisted despite the visible pain that she was going through as she breathed heavily through her nose.

“Is there anything I can get you for the pain? Ice? A heat pack? Are you sure you don’t want any medications at all?” Lena asked, brows furrowed with worry.

“Can I hold your hand?” Kara asked meekly as Lena nodded and scrambled to Kara’s side to grab her hand.

Kara gave Lena a small smile of gratitude as she gripped Lena’s hand and let her eyes slip closed. She breathed slowly as the shooting pain in her back subsided.

“I’m okay now,” Kara reassured Lena even as she still held Lena’s hand in a tight grip. “Can we go home now?” the blonde asked as she looked at Lena, exhaustion evident in her features.

Lena was about to argue, but after seeing that look on Kara’s face, she knew the lieutenant wanted nothing more than to be in the comfort of her own home, snuggled up between her blankets. Lena nodded as she saw Kara visibly sag with relief. “Let me go find your doctor and get your discharge papers all sorted out,” Lena said as she rubbed the back of Kara’s hand with her thumb.

“Thanks, babe,” Kara slurred sleepily, eyes already fighting to stay open after her exhausting ordeal.

“Get some rest, darling,” Lena whispered as she kissed the back of Kara’s hand before tucking it back under the blanket. She stepped out of the room in search of Kara’s doctor to get the blonde cleared to leave.

* * *

The next time Kara blinked awake, she was inside a moving vehicle. She felt disoriented at first, unsure of her surroundings until Lena’s scent washed over her.

“Welcome back sleepyhead,” Lena murmured as Kara blinked awake and lifted her head from where it was resting against the cool window.

“How long was I out?” Kara mumbled as she rubbed at her tired eyes. She looked out the window at the familiar buildings and trees passing by, recognizing it as the dog park a block from her apartment.

“Not too long,” Lena responded as she took her eyes off the road to give Kara a soft smile before turning back to the road.

“Thanks for taking care of me,” Kara gave Lena a tired but genuine smile.

“Always,” Lena responded immediately as she pulled into the familiar parking lot behind Kara’s apartment complex. Kara often hosted game nights, movies, and girls’ nights at her place so Lena was familiar with the area.

After Lena parked, she walked around to the passenger side to help Kara out of the car. “Here,” Lena said handing Kara a black cane.

Kara eyed the object with suspicion as Lena urged Kara to grab it, “the hospital gave it to me to give you. Your doctor said that it will help with your mobility and not strain yourself further while you’re recovering.”

Lena raised her eyebrow at Kara’s pout, “I’ll give you a kiss if you take the cane, grandma.”

Kara huffed but grabbed the handle that was offered and with the help of Lena and the cane, she made it out of the car.

“See, now that wasn’t so hard?” Lena grinned as she leaned down to give Kara her reward.

Kara smiled against Lena’s lips, unable to suppress her content sigh.

Lena grabbed all of their belongings from the car before locking it and returning to Kara’s side. “Okay, let’s get you upstairs,” Lena said as she helped stabilize Kara, the duo slowly making their way to the entrance of the apartment.

Once they made it to the elevator, Kara was visibly sweating from exhaustion. Her body was clearly struggling as she leaned against the side of the elevator once the doors closed.

“We’re almost there,” Lena gave Kara a small sympathetic smile as she rubbed the blonde’s arm. “At least you’ll get to see Potsticker. I’m sure he missed you,” Lena smiled, referring to Kara’s 115-pound dog made up of pure fluff and love.

“I have to thank Alex and Kelly for taking care of him while I’ve been in the hospital,” Kara said as the elevator dinged and the doors slid open.

Lena helped Kara out of the elevator and down the hallway as Lena fished out her key to Kara’s apartment. Kara had given Lena a copy last year for emergencies and Lena made sure to always keep it on her just in case.

Kara smiled as she heard Potsticker’s toes clicking on the hardwood and steady thump of his tail. He was no doubt was sitting on the other side of the door waiting to assault Kara with his big slobbery kisses.

Lena slid the key into the hole and turned it slowly, pushing her way into the apartment first to intercept Potsticker before he bowled Kara over.

“Hey, buddy!” Lena smiled as Potsticker gave an excited bark. The Great Pyrenees’s tail wagging a mile a minute as his tongue hung out of his mouth in an excited pant. As predicted, as soon as he saw who was standing next to Lena he jumped up.

“Hey, no, Potsticker. Down,” Lena scolded as she stood protectively in front of Kara to prevent the big dog from jumping up on the injured firefighter.

The dog instantly listened as he sat down, tail still wagging impatiently.

“Good boy,” Lena praised as she pat him on the head.

“Hey, big man! You miss me?” Kara grinned as she scratched the dog behind the ears, his favorite spot.

Potsticker whined happily, his body vibrating with excitement as he licked Kara all over.

Lena smiled as she watched the dog attack Kara with kisses as the lieutenant giggled. She made her way to the living room to deposit all the items she was carrying then came back to help Kara to the couch.

“Are you sure I can’t do anything?” Kara asked, feeling bad for making Lena do all the chores in Kara’s own house.

“No, you’re already letting me stay here so just sit there and relax,” Lena insisted as she went to fix Potsticker’s dinner since Kara wasn’t allowed to do any bending over any time soon.

After Lena had given Potsticker his dinner and freshwater, she made her way back to the living room and plopped down on the couch next to Kara with a heavy sigh.

“So, are you hungry?” Lena asked as she leaned closer to Kara.

As if on cue, Kara’s stomach growled loudly as they both laughed. “You already know the answer to that,” Kara laughed as Potsticker came back to rest his head in Kara’s lap and demand pats from his mother.

Lena shook her head with a smile as she pulled her phone out of her pocket to call the local Chinese restaurant for takeout. Lena knew Kara’s order by heart as she rattled it off and added her own dish as well.

As they waited for their food, Lena turned on the TV as she scrolled for something to watch and leaned against Kara’s side.

“So, about your lying skills,” Lena smirked after a beat of silence.

Kara sputtered, mouth opening and closing to try and form a reply when a knock interrupted her thoughts.

“Saved by the bell,” Lena laughed as she sidestepped around Potsticker to grab her wallet and pay for the delivery.

“Hey, wait aren’t I supposed to pay. I asked you out,” Kara frowned, deep in thought.

“If my memory serves me right, I asked you out first. But if it makes you feel better, you can pay for the next date,” Lena winked as she opened the door to exchange the cash for the food.

Kara couldn’t help but smile at Lena’s words; the promise of a second date making her giddy with excitement.

“What’s got you all smiley?” Lena asked as she pushed Potsticker’s curious twitching nose away so she could set the food down on the coffee table.

“You,” Kara grinned up at Lena as she made grabby hands at the containers that Lena was carrying, “and potstickers.”

Her dog’s ears twitched at his name as he looked to Kara with begging eyes.

“No buddy, Lena just fed you,” Kara warned as the dog gave her his best pout yet.

Kara narrowed her eyes at him as he seemed to know just exactly what he was doing.

“Fine, but only one,” Kara caved as she dug out a potsticker and handed it to him.

“Isn’t that cannibalism?” Lena asked as she watched Potsticker munch happily on his Asian treat.

Kara shrugged with a smile as she began to dig into her food with a content hum.

Lena smiled as they ate together in comfortable silence. Soon enough, they finished up eating as Lena cleaned up and helped Kara to the bedroom so the lieutenant could get ready for bed.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to sleep on the couch?” Lena asked Kara as she watched the blonde hobble over to the sink, Potsticker on her heels.

“My bed is big enough for the both of us. Plus, sleeping on the couch will give you horrible back pain and we wouldn’t want that for when you go back on shift,” Kara insisted as Lena nodded.

“Okay, let me just clean up the living room. Holler if you need me,” Lena said as she left Potsticker to watch Kara in the bathroom.

Lena cleaned up the living room and Kara finished her nightly routine except for changing her clothes.

“Um, would you mind helping me change?” Kara asked sheepishly as she held up the T-shirt and sleep shorts in her hand.

Lena fought her blush and nodded. This was strictly non-sexual she told herself. She needed to dial back her thirst.

Kara sat on the bed as Lena helped her shimmy out of her pants. Lena stared down at Kara’s feet instead of the muscular thighs on display as she helped Kara slide the shorts up her lean legs.

“Up,” Lena said as Kara lifted her arms as Lena pulled the shirt up and over her head. Lena couldn’t help the blush that spread across her cheeks as tan skin was revealed and Lena got an eyeful of Kara’s toned abs and perfect biceps.

“Can you help me with this sports bra?” Kara asked, a blush of her own dusting her cheekbones.

Lena bit her lip and nodded, averting her eyes as she tugged the garment up and over Kara’s head. She blindly reached for the sleep shirt on the bed and thrust it in Kara’s direction, still looking anywhere but at the blonde.

“Thanks,” Kara said as she grabbed the shirt and put her arms through the holes. Lena helped ease the fabric over Kara’s head without looking.

“You can look,” Kara whispered once Lena had helped ease the shirt over her head. “You’re basically my girlfriend now, right?”

Lena’s eyes flew to meet Kara’s, heart racing in her chest. Girlfriend?

“That’s too fast; I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have put a label on us yet,” Kara chastised herself with a shake of her head.

“No!” Lena exclaimed a little bit too loudly that Potsticker came back into the room to check on them. “No,” Lena repeated in a quieter voice, “I would love to be your girlfriend.”

“Really?” Kara asked, a wide smile spreading across her face.

Lena nodded as she leaned down to give Kara a long kiss, tasting the mintiness of the blonde’s toothpaste against her lips.

“Let’s get you tucked in then we can cuddle, all right?” Lena asked as Kara nodded, an eager grin on her face.

Lena leaned the cane against the bedside table and helped Kara under the covers, “I’ll be right back, darling.”

Kara nodded, eyes already fluttering closed as Potsticker climbed into his bed next to Kara’s side of the bed.

Lena quickly brushed her teeth and completed her nightly routine before changing into her nightclothes. She came back into Kara’s bedroom to find both Kara and Potsticker sound asleep, both snoring softly.

The paramedic reached down to give Potsticker a goodnight pat on the head before pulling the sheets back and climbing into bed with her new girlfriend. Lena couldn’t help but smile at the thought as she scooted closer to the warmth that Kara always radiated.

“Goodnight, Kara,” she whispered as she snuggled up to Kara and kissed her gently on the jaw before tucking her head into the blonde’s neck.

“G’night,” Kara mumbled as she pressed a sleepy kiss to the side of Lena’s head, “love you.”

Lena froze in place at Kara’s words, the lieutenant instantly going back to sleep unaware of the inner turmoil that little phrase caused Lena.

That was twice now that Kara had uttered those words to Lena while she was half asleep. That couldn’t be a coincidence, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again to clarify, I am not a paramedic or medical professional, so I am not sure if Kara’s injuries or any other scientific information I use is incorrect or improbable. All the information is from online research and information that I have personally learned in classes so please let me know if anything is widely incorrect and I will try and fix it. I have no idea how long that I’m planning to make this story, but as long as you guys are still interested and I still have ideas, then this story will keep going!


	11. I’m Alright with a Slow Burn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena and Kara experience a bit of domesticity and things get a little bit heated. (Lena gets to touch the abs!) Alex also sees something she probably should not have.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all, I’m glad you guys enjoyed Potsticker so much! To be honest, this is his story now and he’s the real star here. He’s a very good boy in this chapter; we love him. Things get a lil spicy in this chapter so strap in ;)
> 
> This chapter’s title is taken from Aly & AJ’s song [ Slow Burn](https://youtu.be/VhIDprb0KAU).
> 
> Also, as of this chapter, this is my longest fic to date! What an accomplishment :0

After Kara’s sleepy love confession, Lena had trouble falling asleep. The words tumbling around her brain as she tried to process why Kara would utter those words not once, but twice now and always when she was half unconscious. What did that mean?

Lena tried to minimize her tossing and turning so as to not disturb Kara, but her mind would not let her calm down enough to sleep. Lena wondered if she should confront Kara about it but decided it was best to not mention it. She wasn’t even sure I the lieutenant meant those words or even remembered what she was saying. Lena couldn’t help the little spark of hope that ignited in her chest at the possibility that Kara could love her, could be _in_ love with her. She tried not to let herself get her hopes up as she knew that life would always find a way to betray her. After about fifteen more minutes of restless shifting, Lena finally fell into a restless sleep.

After what felt like minutes later, Lena awoke to something slobbery and wet pressing against her cheek. “Kara, stop,” she mumbled sleepily, turning her head away from the warm tongue laving across her skin.

Wait, tongue?

Lena’s eyes shot open as Potsticker’s big dark brown eyes stared back at her.

“Ew,” the paramedic grumbled as she wiped her damp cheek on Kara’s chest, letting the fabric of her nightshirt wipe away the dog slobber.

Potsticker blinked happily at her, tail wagging eagerly as his goal of waking up at least one of the humans was accomplished.

Lena groaned as she scrubbed a hand over her face and pressed herself against Kara’s warm side. The blonde mumbled something in her sleep as she shifted a little bit but didn’t wake up.

Being a Great Pyrenees, Potsticker was big enough to rest his head on Kara’s bed as he did just that. Nosing his way closer, he pressed his cold wet nose to the bottom of Lena’s foot.

Lena shrieked in surprise at the feeling as she immediately drew her foot closer to Kara’s.

Kara’s eyes flew open at the sound of Lena’s startled cry, “what’s wrong?” Her eyes immediately scanned the room for threats, body on firefighter mode.

“Nothing,” Lena quickly reassured her with a hand on Kara’s chest. She pressed the blonde back into the bed, not wanting her to strain herself by attempting to do something stupid like getting out of bed to protect Lena from her own dog. “I think Potsticker is hungry, and he just scared me is all,” Lena assured Kara who groaned as she let her body relax back into the bed.

“Potsticker,” Kara whined as she threw a hand over her tired eyes, “it’s not very nice to scare people, bud.” The dog huffed as he nuzzled his head under the hand that Kara had dangling over the side of the bed. Kara stroked his soft white fur as the dog’s tail thumped on the floor with content.

“I’ll go feed him and let him outside,” Lena said as she sat up and slid out of the bed. “Don’t try and get up, I’ll be back soon to help you,” she added, pressing a soft kiss to Kara’s forehead.

Kara nodded as Lena walked to the bathroom, Potsticker hot at her heels. The blonde instantly missed Lena’s warmth as she pat the warm spot on the bed that Lena had just been occupying. She brought Lena’s pillow up to her face and inhaled the scent with a content smile on her face.

“Woah there, don’t suffocate yourself with that pillow or poor Potsticker here will be an orphan,” Lena teased once she came out of the bathroom and saw Kara with the pillow on her head.

“You’re basically his other mother so he wouldn’t be an orphan. Plus, I’m convinced he loves you more,” Kara’s muffled reply came from under the pillow.

Lena laughed as she walked over to rip the pillow off of Kara’s face, “he just loves me because I always bring him the best toys and treats.”

Kara pouted and Lena couldn’t resist that cute face as she leaned down to kiss the pout away.

“I’m so happy you can do that now,” Kara murmured against Lena’s lips, a dopey smile on her face.

“Likewise, darling,” Lena grinned as she pulled away reluctantly. “I’ll be back soon. Again, no moving by yourself,” Lena warned, the threat punctuated by her hands on her hips.

Kara smiled at her girlfriend’s (girlfriend!) cute antics as she gave Lena a mock salute, “yes, ma’am.”

Lena rolled her eyes playfully as she threw the pillow at Kara’s head and headed out the room, Potsticker trailing behind her and Kara’s amused laughter ringing in her ears.

Once in the kitchen, Lena pressed the button to start the coffee machine, knowing that it would take a bit for it to concoct her much-needed caffeine. Next, she grabbed Potsticker’s almost empty water bowl as she cleaned it and refilled it with fresh water. Setting it down on the floor, she grabbed his empty food bowl and walked to the pantry to Potsticker’s food container.

She heard him lapping up fresh water as she scooped two and a half cups of dry kibble into his bowl.

Potsticker suddenly appeared behind Lena as he heard the sound of his food being poured into his bowl.

“Potsticker!” Lena scolded, knowing that he wasn’t allowed inside the pantry and was most likely getting his drool all over the floor. “You know you’re not supposed to be in here. Go wait,” she pointed to the mat where his water bowl sat.

The dog obeyed, tail wagging eagerly as Lena could see the drool dangling from his lips.

“Gross,” Lena mumbled as she closed Potsticker’s food container and the pantry and walked over to where the big dog was waiting patiently for his breakfast.

Lena set his food bowl on the floor, “wait,” she warned as she saw him eye the bowl with an excited whine.

“Paw,” she asked as she held out her hand for him.

The dog placed his large white furry paw in her hand, mouth open in an eager pant.

“Good boy,” Lena praised as she stroked his soft head. “Okay,” she said his release command and he practically flew over to the bowl and began scarfing it down fervently.

“Slow down there, buddy,” Lena warned as she pat the dog’s fluffy rump, glad that she had gotten him that slow-feeder bowl last Christmas. She realized that going off her monthly trips to the pet store and her love for the gentle giant, Kara was right, and Lena was just as much of Potsticker’s mother as Kara was.

Lena was glad that Kara had a house, one that she used to share with Alex before her sister moved into a house with her wife, that had a nice fenced-in yard for Potsticker to run. She would have to take him on a walk later, but for now, letting him outside would be enough.

While Potsticker was eating, the coffee machine had beeped, signaling that the pot had finished brewing. Lena heaved a sigh of relief as she grabbed a mug from the cabinet and poured the steaming beverage into it.

Lena wrapped her hands around the warm mug, blowing gently on the hot liquid to cool it down a bit before taking a tentative sip. She sighed with content as she welcomed the much-needed caffeine into her system. With the restless sleep that she had, she needed to make sure she had enough caffeine in her system to keep herself awake enough to take care of Kara.

After Lena had almost finished her first cup of coffee, Potsticker finished his breakfast. He slurped up some water to wash down his meal. He licked his lips as his tail wagged with content. Lena smiled as she opened the sliding door to the backyard to let him out to do his business and play for a bit.

She shut the door and drowned the last dregs of her coffee. She decided that a second cup was most definitely needed as she set the empty cup back on the counter. She would drink it later while making Kara breakfast.

Lena headed upstairs to assist Kara and help her get ready for the day. Heading back into Kara’s bedroom, the blonde was still lying flat on her back, but was awake and scrolling on her phone.

“How’s Potsticker?” Kara asked as she heard Lena reenter the room.

“He’s good. Ate his breakfast like a madman, as usual, and he’s outside right now,” Lena reported back.

“Thanks,” Kara smiled appreciatively as she set her phone down on the bedside table. Lena walked over to her side of the bed and helped Kara sit up.

After some effort, the blonde was upright as she wiped the tiny bit of sweat off her brow.

“You okay?” Lena asked, her voice filled with concern as she brushed some of Kara’s hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ears.

Kara nodded as she couldn’t help but smile at the tender gesture.

“What?” Lena asked her hands unconsciously resting on both sides of Kara’s neck.

“Nothing,” Kara grinned as she felt Lena’s calloused hands caressing the sides of her neck.

“What’s got you so smiley all of a sudden?” Lena inquired as she raised one eyebrow.

“You,” Kara responded without missing a beat, turning her head to press her soft lips to Lena’s palm.

“Stop that,” Lena mumbled, her pale skin instantly turning a shade of deep red as she tugged her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Why?” Kara challenged as she turned her head to kiss Lena’s other palm.

“You-you can’t say sappy things like that,” Lena sputtered as Kara repeated her gesture on Lena’s other palm, “or do things like that.”

“Why not?” Kara asked, this time being the one to raise a single brow at Lena.

“Because” Lena stammered as she tried to think of a reasonable explanation besides the sweet words and actions triggering her gay panic, “because you can’t.”

“Whatever you say, babe,” Kara smirked as she witnessed in real time the blush spread down Lena’s neck to the area of her chest that was exposed by her t-shirt.

Lena opened her mouth to no doubt tell Kara she wasn’t allowed to say that either when Kara interrupted her.

“I’m allowed to call my girlfriend cute names, dammit,” Kara retorted, raising her chin defiantly as she grabbed the cane that was leaning against the wall. “Now, help me to the bathroom so I can brush my teeth and kiss my beautiful girlfriend,” Kara added as she waited for Lena to help lift her up.

Once Lena regained the ability to speak again, she raised an eyebrow at Kara’s little comical outburst, “oh, you have a girlfriend? Would she be okay with me touching you then?” Lena teased even as she slid her hands around Kara’s shoulder to help assist her.

“Hm, I’m not sure but she does seem like she’d be the jealous type,” Kara replied as she hoisted herself up with the help of Lena and the cane.

“Well then, Lieutenant Danvers, we better get you to the bathroom so you can kiss that pretty girlfriend of yours,” Lena couldn’t help but grin as she spoke, earning a giggle from Kara.

Lena helped Kara go to the toilet then left the blonde alone to brush her teeth. She walked back to Kara’s bedroom to pick out an outfit for her as Lena laid it on the bed.

Kara yelled out that she was done as Lena helped her hobble out of the bathroom and sat her down on the bed to help her change.

“Wait!” Kara yelled out just as Lena was about to take off the blonde’s shirt.

“What?” Lena asked, immediately thinking that Kara was hurt as she went into paramedic mode and began scanning Kara’s body for injuries.

Kara didn’t respond verbally as she reached up and cupped her hand around the back of Lena’s neck and pulled her down for a kiss.

Lena let out an uncharacteristic squeak of surprise that morphed into a pleased moan. Her eyes slipped shut as one hand fell to brace herself on the bed and the other reached up to cup Kara’s cheek.

Kara spread her legs out of reflex and Lena instantly stepped in between them as their kiss deepened. The hand on Lena’s neck slid to tangle in her hair as Kara’s other hand slid down to rest on Lena’s ass.

As soon as she felt Kara’s hand rest on her ass, she let out a moan that sent heat directly between Kara’s legs. The blonde scrapped her teeth against Lena’s lower lip before biting on it gently. She swiped her tongue over it to soothe the bite as Lena whimpered, her lips parting involuntarily.

Kara saw her opportunity as she slipped her tongue inside of Lena’s mouth, a moan of her own rumbling in her chest as Lena’s tongue pressed against her own. She gently squeezed the soft flesh of Lena’s bottom in her large hand.

“Mhm, darling, we have to stop,” Lena mumbled reluctantly once Kara relinquished her tongue so that Lena could speak again. Lena could feel Kara pouting against her lips as she laughed and couldn’t help but sneak one more quick kiss.

“Fine,” Kara huffed as she slowly untangled her fingers from Lena’s dark locks but made no move to pull her hand away from Lena’s ass.

“Don’t be sad, baby,” Lena whispered huskily into Kara’s ear, using her tongue to trace the shell of Kara’s ear.

Kara whined at the feeling, her fingers closing around the material of Lena’s shirt, “you’re mean.”

“Am I? If we get your clothes changed, I’ll make you chocolate chip pancakes,” Lena nipped at Kara’s ear with a smirk before grabbing the hem of Kara’s shirt and giving it a firm tug.

“You are so cruel Lena Luthor,” Kara huffed as she raised her arms above her head, letting Lena strip the shirt off of her.

“Oh, I’m the cruel one ‘Ms. I have a fucking six-pack and never let my girlfriend appreciate it’,” Lena scoffed as she averted her eyes from Kara’s bare chest and slid Kara’s arms and head through the appropriate holes.

“Well, since you are my girlfriend now, appreciate away,” Kara smirked as she took advantage of Lena’s averted eyes and grabbed her hands to place them directly on her hard stomach muscles.

Lena gasped in surprise as her eyes flew down to the solid muscle beneath her palms. “Okay, you have to tell me your workout routine,” Lena whispered as she ran her fingers reverently over the sculpted abdominals.

“Yep…after I get my pancakes,” Kara grinned as she leaned her weight on the cane, trying to push herself up.

“Woah, easy there, Lieutenant. The pancakes aren’t going anywhere,” Lena said as she supported Kara’s other side and helped her downstairs.

Lena deposited Kara on the barstool as she poured a cup of coffee and orange juice for the blonde and placed it in front of her.

Kara smiled in appreciation as Lena opened the door to let Potsticker back into the house. The dog immediately went to drink his water as Lena began the preparation for Kara’s favorite chocolate chip pancakes.

Lena used her phone to connect to the Bluetooth speaker in Kara’s kitchen, hips swaying to the beat as she could feel Kara’s stare on her backside.

Before Lena could respond with something flirty, they heard the sound of a key turning in the lock of the front door as it clicked and slid open.

“Hey guys,” Alex said as she barged in, arms full of bags of groceries, “I brought some in case y’all didn’t have time to go out and get any because I know Kara eats everything in sight.”

Kara and Lena both froze as Alex peeked over the edge of the bags to take in the sight before her. Kara looked like her normal self, sitting at the barstool in her grey sweatpants and a t-shirt, a glass of orange juice half-poised in front of her lips. Lena, however, looked very different. Sure, Alex has seen Lena dressed down and casual at their girls’ nights but today, something was different. She looked…happy. Like genuinely content and at ease standing in Kara’s kitchen in what appeared to be Kara’s old fire academy t-shirt and possibly nothing underneath. Alex narrowed her eyes at Lena who recovered from her deer-in-headlights expression much faster than Kara. Lena spun around toward the stove to avoid Alex’s gaze and flip the pancake before it burned.

“Lena…” Alex trailed off as she set the bags of groceries on the kitchen table. Her eyes glued to where Lena’s shirt had risen up when she had reached for the bottle of syrup in the cabinet.  
“Hm?” Lena asked, oblivious to what Alex was looking at until she heard the sound of Kara sputtering and choking on the orange juice once the blonde noticed exactly what her sister was staring at.

Alex ignored the sound of her sister choking next to her as Kara’s face turned red from both coughing and embarrassment.

Lena rubbed Kara’s back and handed her a glass of water. Once the sounds of Kara’s coughing subsided, Alex crossed her arms over her chest and raised a threatening eyebrow, “Care to explain the Kara-shaped handprint on your ass?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y’all enjoyed this fluffy (and a little spicy) chapter! These two are so in love. Tune in to the next chapter to find out how Lena and Kara are going to explain this one to Alex! Also, I'm not sure if the little spicy scene between Kara and Lena is cause enough for this chapter to be rated M, but for now, I'm keeping it T. If anyone feels that this chapter makes the fic more suitable to be rated M, please let me know and I will adjust the rating accordingly. Thank you all for your continued support of this story!


	12. It’s Okay, Keep Breathing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena and Kara discuss whether they should tell Alex (and subsequently Kelly), about the new development in their relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I’m blown away by all the support that I’ve received on this fic so far. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter even if it's a little bit shorter (college is killing me right now). 
> 
> This chapter’s title is taken from Aly & AJ’s song [ Attack of Panic](https://youtu.be/O-BTl6y0iEU).

Alex waited patiently for her answer, arms crossed over her chest and eyebrow raised. She cleared her throat as she waited for a response. 

“Um,” Kara blushed as she took a sip of the water that Lena had offered her to avoid answering the question. 

Lena rolled her eyes fondly at Kara knowing that the lieutenant was terrible at lying. “Can I talk to Kara alone for a minute?” Lena asked Alex.

Alex looked from Lena to Kara before letting out a sigh. She uncrossed her arms and nodded, “I’ll be in the bathroom,” Alex gave them both questioning looks before heading down the hallway.

“Lena, we have to tell her,” Kara whispered once Alex was out of an earshot, “she’s my sister.”

Lena sighed, understanding that Kara hated lying, especially to her sister, “but she’s also our captain.”

Kara knew that Lena was right and even though she doubted Alex would report them, she was still their superior and there was always that chance. 

“But she also saw evidence of your uh…excitement,” Lena’s cheeks tinged red, “from earlier and she’s not stupid.”

“What do we do?” Kara asked as she put her elbows on the table and buried her face in her hands. “If we tell her you know that automatically means Kelly knows too,” Kara added. 

“I know,” Lena sighed knowing that Alex could never keep anything from her wife, plus Kelly was her best friend besides Kara. 

Kara heard the toilet flush as her panicked eyes met Lena’s surprisingly calm ones. “What do we do?” the blonde hissed out, the anxiety creeping into her voice. 

“Take a deep breath, babe,” Lena soothed, rubbing a hand over Kara’s back, trying to prevent the unnerved woman from spiraling into a panic attack. 

The lieutenant inhaled deeply through her nose and let it out through her mouth. She repeated this a couple of items until she felt her heart start to beat less erratically. “Thanks,” she whispered, leaning her head against Lena’s side. 

Lena ran her fingers through Kara’s hair, dropping a kiss to the top of her head. 

“If you really want to tell Alex, I’m not going to stop you,” Lena whispered as she smoothed Kara’s hair down gently. 

The blonde felt herself shudder at the contact as she quickly processed Lena’s words, “Are you sure?” 

“Darling, we know that you’re a terrible liar. We should at least tell Alex now and get it over with,” Lena reasoned as Kara nodded in agreement. 

“Tell Alex what?” the redhead walked back into the room, wiping her wet hands on her jeans as she leaned against the kitchen counter. 

“You know I have towels in the bathroom?” Kara raised an eyebrow at her sister. 

Alex just shrugged as she crossed her arms over her chest expectantly. 

Kara took a deep breath as Lena put a hand on Kara’s lower back to let her know that she was there for Kara. 

“Lena and I are dating,” Kara admitted, letting it all out in one breath.

The paramedic tensed next to Kara, biting the inside of her cheek in anticipation.  
Alex blinked slowly as she processed the information. After a beat of silence, she grinned broadly, “fucking finally!”

“Wait, what?” Kara’s brows furrowed in excitement as she met Lena’s equally confused gaze. 

“Thanks for earing me fifty bucks,” Alex smirked as she watched the confusion grow on Kara and Lena’s faces. 

“What do you mean finally?” 

“You bet on us?”

Kara and Lena spoke at the same time as they stared at Alex.

Alex rolled her eyes good-naturedly, “I mean that we all know you’ve been making heart eyes at each other for years. And yes, Kelly and I had a bet going. She bet that you two were already dating and I bet that my idiot sister is too much of a useless gay to make a move yet.”

Kara didn’t have time to be offended by Alex’s statement as Lena huffed at the fact that her best friend had placed a bet on her. 

They all blinked at each other, letting the information soak in. 

“So, you’re not going to report us?” Lena asked, eyeing Alex hesitantly. 

Alex had the audacity to laugh, like full-on throw her head back and cackle. She doubled over and clutched her sides as her body shook with laugher. 

Kara and Lena eyed each other as they glanced at their captain who almost looked like she was about to collapse on the floor.

“Is there a gas leak in your bathroom or something?” Lena whispered as she glanced at Kara in the corner of her eye, unable to tear her gaze away from Alex. 

“No…” Kara trailed off as she wondered why her sister was acting so strange. 

Once Alex’s laughter died down, she wiped her tears away with a sigh as her breathing returned to normal. “That was a good one guys,” Alex shook her head with a smile, “did you guys forget who you’re talking to?”

Kara’s brows furrowed with confusion as Lena raised an eyebrow at Alex, waiting for the older Danvers to explain. 

“I thought you two were smart,” Alex shook her head again in disbelief. 

“Seriously?” She eyed them incredulously as they gave her blank stares in return.

“Guys…you do realize that I had to date my wife before marrying her? And that I dated her in secret for years to get around the department,” Alex raised an eyebrow at the pair, hoping that they’d finally understand now. 

“Oh…right,” Kara nodded as Lena’s eyes widened with mutual understanding. 

Alex rolled her eyes at the two clueless gays in front of her, “I’m not going to report you two if that’s what you’re afraid of.”

“Thank god,” Kara sighed with relief as Lena’s shoulder’s slumped, the tension there melting away. 

“What do we do?” Kara asked after a beat of silence. “We all know that I’m terrible at lying,” the blonde added. 

Lena and Alex nodded in agreement as Kara’s lower lip stuck out in a pout, “now my sister and my girlfriend can gang up on me.”

Alex rolled her eyes with a fond smile as she watched Lena grin at Kara, the paramedic still not used to being called Kara’s girlfriend just yet. 

“You too are disgustingly cute. It actually makes me sick,” Alex fake gagged as she shuddered dramatically.

“Oh please, don’t act like you and Kelly aren’t the same way,” Lena challenged the redhead with a raised eyebrow. 

“Touché,” Alex mumbled back but couldn’t contain her smile. 

“And you promise you won’t tell?” Kara asked her older sister, uncertainty still laced in her voice. 

“Sister’s honor,” Alex swore as she held out her pinky to Kara. 

Kara wrapped her own around it and squeezed while Lena couldn’t help but smile at the childish gesture. 

Alex pulled her pinky away but delivered a soft punch to Kara’s arm who instantly tried to retaliate before Lena had to hold her down, making sure the blonde wouldn’t fall off the stool and injure herself further. 

“What was that for?” Kara cried out as she flipped Alex off since Lena was preventing her from hitting her sister back. 

“For letting a beam fall on your dumb ass,” Alex defended, sticking her tongue out at Kara in response. 

Lena sighed and rolled her eyes at the Danvers sisters, “you two are literally twelve years old.” 

“She started it,” Kara whined as she pointed a finger at Alex, and Lena was sure that if Kara was able to stand on her own, she would be stomping her foot on the ground. 

“Enough of that,” Lena scolded as she pressed a deep kiss to Kara’s lips to shut her up. 

The blonde immediately stopped complaining and melted against Lena’s lips with a happy sigh. 

Lena pulled away with a smirk and went back to the stove to continue making pancakes before Alex had bust in and interrupted them. 

“Ew,” Alex teased but a smile was on her face as she helped to put the groceries she had brought into Kara’s fridge since Lena was busy cooking.

“Would you want to stay for breakfast? I’m making extra chocolate chip pancakes for Kara,” Lena asked as she watched Alex load the food into the fridge, Potsticker hot on her heels. 

“I would love to, but I promised Kelly that I’d bring her to get her favorite breakfast croissants,” Alex replied, “but we should totally do a double date sometime. I’m sure Kelly would love that.”

Lena smiled and nodded in response, “of course. Thanks for stopping by.”

“I’ll be sure to knock next time. I’ve seen way too much of Kara than a sister ever should, and I think if I saw more of you than I do at the station I might never be able to look you in the eye again,” Alex shuddered as Lena laughed at her over-dramatic reaction. 

Alex waved goodbye to Lena as the paramedic turned her attention back to the pancakes, making sure that they were perfect for Kara. 

The eldest Danvers gave her sister a quick hug as she whispered low enough into her ear that Lena wouldn’t hear. “You look happy,” Alex observed with a soft smile. 

“I am,” Kara whispered back, “she makes me happy,” the blonde added, dopey smile plastered on her face as she watched the way Lena danced comfortably around her kitchen, clad in Kara’s oversized t-shirt. 

“I’m glad,” Alex smiled softly at her sister, “but if you ever hurt that girl, I promise that I will strangle you with the fire hose. The same goes for her,” Alex whispered. 

“Thank you,” Kara smiled, feeling her eyes get a little bit misty. She knew that Lena’s relationship with her own sibling was not very good so hearing Alex give her a shovel talk on behalf of Lena warmed her heart. 

Alex gave Kara a quick squeeze on the shoulder before kissing the top of her sister’s head. “Feel better soon, Kar. Call or text me if you need anything,” Alex said as she bid another, “goodbye,” to Lena, patting Potsticker on the head on her way out. Then she was gone, the door clicking shut and locking behind her. 

“So…” Kara trailed off once her sister had left as Lena turned around, holding a plate with a large steaming stack of Kara’s favorite breakfast item. 

“Pancakes?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pancakes! The next chapter might be exploring more of Kara and Lena trying to hide their relationship from those at the station. I hope I’m not totally boring you with this story and that y’all are still interested. I’m not even sure if people still want to read this AU or if I’m dragging this out too much, but I do have an ending planned (whether that be in the next chapter or a few from now, I’m not sure yet). Anyway, if y’all are still here and interested, I appreciate you!


	13. Pull Us Away from Where the Pain Is

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena gets Kara to sing for her and they cuddle on the couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize that I do not update regularly, but college work has been very stressful, and I write whenever I have time. Nonetheless, I appreciate the continued interest in this story despite the irregularity in updating but I promise I am still working hard on this story. Thank you all for sticking around so far! You guys are the best. This chapter might be a bit of a filler and shorter, but I promise I got exciting things in store! 
> 
> This chapter’s title is taken from Aly & AJ’s new song [ Pretty Places](https://youtu.be/NxpW4B3WBg8). 
> 
> I’d highly recommend taking a look at the music video (their outfits are very gay) and really listen to the lyrics. One of my favorite lines in the song is the title and “with the windows down, I can feel it in the air tonight”. Anyway, stream Pretty Places and I will love you forever.

After Kara and Lena had finished off their breakfast, Lena had helped Kara hobble over to the couch.

Potsticker followed and made himself comfortable at Kara’s feet, settling his head on her feet with a content sigh.

“Nia and Brainy were gonna stop by maybe later this afternoon to see how you were doing if you’re up for it. Possibly Alex and Kelly too if they finished their brunch,” Lena said as she set her phone down on the coffee table and taking a seat on the couch next to her girlfriend.

Kara nodded in agreement as she sighed and leaned back against the couch and looked at the ceiling.

“What’s up?” Lena asked as she reached over to squeeze Kara’s knee to get the blonde to look at her.

Kara picked her head up, letting it fall to the side to lock eyes with Lena, “I’m just restless,” the lieutenant admitted. “I know I need to take it easy in order to recover and get back to work but sitting still has never been something that I was good at,” Kara sighed as she rested her hand over Lena’s on her knee.

“I know darling, but you have to try,” Lena sighed as she scooted herself closer to Kara, “I won’t be able to be here every second of your recovery, but I promise I will stop by after shift. Plus, you have Potsticker,” she smiled as the dog let his tail thump on the ground at the mention of his name.

Kara nodded as she smiled down at her dog, happy to have at least some company through all of this.

“I took off work for a few days, just enough so you can learn to get around without me and just use the cane,” Lena said as Kara lifted her arm so that Lena could snuggle herself into her side.

“You really didn’t have to do that, but I appreciate it very much,” Kara smiled as she kissed the top of Lena’s head. “Thanks for being here,” Kara whispered as she rested her cheek against Lena’s hair.

“Always,” Lena smiled as she let out an exhausted but content sigh, letting herself bask in the warmth of Kara’s body.

“Get some rest,” Kara whispered as she ran her fingers through Lena’s hair knowing that Lena appreciated the soothing gesture.

“I should be telling that to you,” Lena mumbled drowsily as Kara watched her fight to keep her eyes open.

“Don’t worry about me,” Kara smiled as she combed her fingers gently through Lena’s silky dark locks.

“Sing to me please?” Lena mumbled, pressed her face into the side of Kara’s neck as she inhaled her comforting scent.

Kara smiled as she brushed Lena’s hair out of her face and began to sing softly, “we could pack up this house, get out of town…”

Lena grinned, snuggling against her girlfriend's neck, excited to hear more of Kara's magnificent voice. 

“Drive across country, one taillight out,” Kara sang as she watched Lena’s smile up at her, enraptured by her voice, “you wouldn’t need anything else now, would ya?”

Lena shook her head in response to the lyrics as Kara smiled in return, “Just all my books and your old Daytona.”

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Kara sang softly, “Where you going, sunshine?” she continued, booping Lena on the nose at the last word.

Lena let out a little involuntary giggle as Kara sang to her, the blonde's beautiful voice filling her ears. 

“We got time, sit back and I’ll drive you to,” Kara paused to press a kiss to Lena’s forehead, “all the pretty places, pull us away from where the pain is.”

Lena sighed at the feeling of Kara’s lips on her forehead as she very much wished that Kara could whisk her away to all the pretty places.

“These open skies, leaving the past behind, I would for all the pretty places,” Kara continued as Lena fought to stay awake, mesmerized by Kara’s calming voice.

“Watch the sunrise, sunset, same day,” Kara sang, tucking a strand of hair behind Lena’s ear, “when was the last time you did that, anyways?”

Lena wondered to herself when the last time she even appreciated the sunrise or sunset. She’s often up and awake to see both, but never really had the chance to appreciate either in a long time.

“Singing to the radio, don’t worry, baby,” Kara smiled, hoping one day that she would be able to take Lena on a road trip, just the two of them on the open road with the top down and radio blasting.

“With the windows down, I can feel it in the air tonight,” Kara sang softly with a smile, a similar expression mirrored on Lena’s face as the blonde’s melodious voice filled the room.

Lena leaned closer to Kara’s warmth, letting her eyes slip closed as Kara sang the pre-chorus and chorus again. Kara’s melodic signing relaxing Lena and even lulling Potsticker to sleep.

“I’ll go anywhere; let’s go right now. I’ll go anywhere, doesn’t matter how far. I’ll go anywhere; all I need is you. I’ll go anywhere; all we got is us now,” Kara sang, stroking Lena’s hair as she watched a smile cross her girlfriend’s face.

Kara hummed a little bridge, wising that she was well enough to play her guitar for Lena. “Come with me,” Kara sang three times, “come with me to…all the pretty places, pull us away from where the pain is. These open skies, leaving the past behind. I would for all the pretty places.”

Lena hummed as she listened to the lyrics, wanting nothing more than to visit all the pretty places with Kara and leave the past behind, even if it would only be for a few days.

Kara repeated the chorus twice, “I’ll go anywhere; let’s go right now. I’ll go anywhere, doesn’t matter how far. I’ll go anywhere; all I need is you. I’ll go anywhere; all we got is us now,” she trailed off as she felt Lena’s breathing even out against her body.

Lena was fast asleep, pressed against Kara’s side as the blonde kissed the top of her girlfriend’s head, “I love you.”

Kara watched as a smile crossed Lena’s face, making a promise to herself that sometime in the near future, after she’s recovered, of course, she would take them both on a much-needed vacation. She leaned her head back, getting as comfortable as she could on the couch with Lena half on top of her. Closing her eyes, she let Lena’s steady breathing lull her to sleep.

One and a half hours later, that’s exactly how Alex, Kelly, Nia, and Brainy found the two of them: snuggled up against each other, Potsticker snoring at Kara’s feet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song Kara sings is Pretty Places by Aly & AJ and is also where the title comes from and is linked in the first author’s note. Lyrics are not written by me, so all credit goes to them. Stream Pretty Places! I apologize if this chapter was a bit of a filler (and laden with a lot of lyrics haha) but I lied, and the next chapter will likely have more of the team finding out. Thanks for reading and sticking around!

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first multichapter fic in a while so I appreciate all the support from y'all. I am also open to suggestions if anyone has anything they would like to see in the next chapter(s). 
> 
> Additionally, I am not a doctor, EMT, firefighter, or medical professional so if any of the terminology or events are improbable or do not make sense, please let me know and I will try my best to make it as accurate as possible. 
> 
> This is what the characters are going to be so far. (I might add some more characters later, but this is what it looks like for now):  
> Alex Danvers - Captain  
> Kara Danvers -Lieutenant  
> Lena Luthor - Firefighter/Paramedic  
> Kelly Olsen - Firefighter/Paramedic  
> Nia Nal - Probationary Firefighter (Probie)  
> Querl 'Brainy' Dox - Firefighter/Driver Engineer (DE) or Fire Equipment Operator (FEO)


End file.
